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Poems in an envelope
Batsirai Easther Chigama
June 24, 2009

I found them
Faded, forgotten
With coachroach urine stains
Stamped on warm words
That began and flowed without end,
Lying hopelessly in your old school trunk.

Written for Eustina
The girl whose beauty captivated
Bees in flight, reduced their sting
to a sweet stillness in midair
suspended, hoping they too
would hold her hand like you did.

Words flowed from the past
Into the life I live with you
Scars of old, paint pictures
On stained paper without reverence
Of the carats I thought bound
You and me,
Faded yet so alive
The dying poems in an envelope
Addressed to Eustina
Not me.

The poet's intent
Memory Chirere had all to do with the title because a year ago I sent my poems for editing to him, then I met him earlier this year and was asking him what he had done with the poems. He said to me "oh you mean the poems in an envelope"? For three months I kept that title spinning and was only able to fill in the flesh on the 24th of this month. There are some deep secrets hidden in flimsy closets.

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