Lazy Poet & Other Poems – Nthikeng Mohlele

Lazy Poet

The language of soles of feet
Acrobatics of the moist tongue
The spinal fluid awake and unseen
The intrusions; seductions of finger tips
Temple, neck veins bulging
In fury or laughter
That sinking feeling in the navel
Whistles in the ears after an explosion
Blurry images through
Heated salty waters in tearful eyes
The pungent smell of dead possibilities
The body is a master of things
Don’t you know?

Foundations

What hue is bliss?
What does it weigh in grams or tons
On the scales of euphoria multiplied
Is it wise; I muse
To measure things fleeting and temporary
Or foolish: to disregard instincts
Meant to put sensations on scales
To guess or know for certain
How deep the foundations
Of light heartedness need to be
Or not be
Or completely ignored
Someone whispered in my ear
That
There is a distant sweetness
Charming elusiveness
To possible heartbreak
But whisperers can be liars
Drunkards or
A touch insane. 

21 Hearts 

There is a warmth to your earlobes 
Every eyelash a musical note
Every eyebrow an echo
And so you mumble and chuckle in your sleep
Toss and turn to a rhythm
When words falter and fail
When I am drenched in heat
When I almost die and self resurrect
When my heart swings to moon tides
When weeping lurks
For my heart is full
From listening to yours dance
One heart
Musical
Like
Twenty one beating hearts
I used to be a poet, you know
Before this weeping into pillows.

Naked Poets 

Castration of cuddles in the winter 
Spikes on spines and thorns underfoot
Decency dead from smoke inhalation
From the blaze and infernos of greed
Dressed to kill in town squares
In coffins and wreaths on credit
But then who said the world cannot be
Beautiful, intriguing and charming
That light glitter on window panes
Those light prisms from the setting sun
In the womb of time and the tongue of chance
Naked poets gazing
At calm lakes on seven continents
Pondering and muttering
What are flowers truly for?

Nthikeng Mohlele was partly raised in Limpopo and Tembisa Township, and attended the University of the Witwatersrand, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in dramatic art, publishing studies and African literature. He is the author of six critically acclaimed novels: The Scent of Bliss (2008), Small Things (2013), Rusty Bell (2014), Pleasure (2016), Michael K (2018) and Illumination (2019). His much-anticipated short-story collection Discovery of Love was released in August 2021. 

*Image by Mayank Dhanawade on Unsplash