hillbrow's song

By Zama Madinana

we unzip our dirty minds
to blast the thick & glistening
thighs of hillbrow
 
we salivate at the juicy
sarah baartmans
& naomi campbells 
of the night
 
we loudly dance
shaku shaku
kwasa kwasa
sigide sishaye ne ndlamu
 
before the ladies of the night
take us up to their rooms
one by one
one by one
just to pay for a one-minute pee
 
it doesn’t matter
if you are a zulu or igbo
afrika unite
in the name of kuku here
 
so, welcome to our hillbrow
 
where decaying & filthy streets
house homeless junkies
in funky clothes
 
& my brother from another mother
breaks bread with cops
will crime ever stop
in this city?

---

gomora

By ​Zama Madinana

​how do you kill
a stench of a man burnt
into ashes

---

​Zama Madinana is a South African poet, based in Johannesburg. His work has appeared in The Shallow Tales Review, Kalahari Review, Efiko, Libretto, Brittle Paper, Olney, and other literary publications. Zama’s work focuses mainly on love, politics and social issues. In 2021, he won the third prize of the Sol Plaatje EU Poetry Award. He was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2022. His full-length poetry collection, ’94, was published in June 2023.  In addition to regular performances and readings in Johannesburg and across South Africa, he has performed his poetry in various countries, including Botswana, Mozambique, and Lesotho.