sentencide

Beach calligraphy and photo by Andrew van der Merwe

i take this pen

swallow the ink

drag the blade of word alongside my neck

and think how can i commit sentencide

without letting the blood flow

so it is with the fate of us writers

we are left to our own de-vices

to turn the blade

to swallow the poison

and hope that we can write

it down

just in time

so that

- literally -

something

of us writers

will remain behind

- - -

self-woordenaar

ek neem hierdie pen

sluk die ink

sleep die lem van woord langs my nek verby

en dink hoe kan ek self-woord pleeg

sonder om die bloed te laat vloei

so is dit met die lot van ons skrywers

ons is aan ons eie sinne oorgelaat

om die lem te draai

die gif te sluk

en hoop dat ons

betyds

die na-woordse nota

kan bewoord

sodat

- letterlik -

iets

van ons skrywers

sal oorbly