ESE:
We were never writers, we cut our teeth on letters
razored from old newspapers whose remnants
were soaped and mashed into maché to
make cute little bowls we could stick our stories on.
Sticks were the pens we fashioned into fountains
and air what we inked into the ground,
traced lines of maps with new words
learnt from the dictation class.
We were learned that the world was our canvas and
our lives portraits we were expected to paint, only
LUX:
We were never narrators, we spoke with words concealed
in pages upon pages of books shoved into our minds by
our old masters who took upon themselves to
educate the coloured soul,forced into suits and ties
Tied down upon empty pages with blood,
sweat and tears linked with the cries of
"Dear Mama" printed on pages of Time and Fashion
magazines sold on street corners to tell stories of
how helpless we really are. But we learned,
we learned that this world was our canvas and our
lives portray where to paint, if only
ESE:
We were never even bards, we honed our craft on kings' solos
in the good books and wrote chartered canticles
for hearts gone afluster. Crowds cheered when
we averred that a heart flamed could flutter
wings and fly as a dove, because love,
love, rhymed with dove and the flapping
wings made music for the soul
And in this one school, this one thing we
have learned. An idiot's trash wrapped in glossy paper will sell
just as swell, he won't know the difference
LUX:
But then we were never free, shackled by old religion, ancient
gods who run myths over the same canvas that we
paint our future on. We clutched onto trends
set by alien worlds and mocked our own roots just to
fit in the pinhole frame of society's shutter, sounds
haunt us in the light like ghosts chained on
effervescent bars, pens run out of ink like halos
glow in essence. We sat on desks learning our own history passed through
foreign eyes, children forgetting their mothers tongue
men forgetting their fatherly tasks
The only thing we learned is that the pen is mightier
than the sword, so we fight our battles word for word...
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