Translated by Vita Dervan
THE GRANTMAN
The city gates take the soul for prisoner
the spirit of the accused marching barefoot to its cell
the rusted latchkey has fallen into the oppressor’s hands
and third degree has been given to property and possession
the law does not provide for the detention of errant carnations
but, meanwhile, latches round enslaved wrists
cuffing the soul to the damned reek of the grantman
the small soul behind narrow or wider bars
the rust-resistant latchkey unlocks the mind so the spirit can set free
the world hacks up and spews blood on the floor beneath the tyrant’s yoke
a needle threaded from floor to ceiling stitching a tongue between two lips
when morning comes the sun rises inside the cell shining upon the birdcage that dangles
the Christmas tree on the town square atop the gavel brought down for the inverdict.
IMMUNITY
Born in districts where the light is shot through with gun-powder
we wander through the murk dreaming of illuminating weapons
amidst cries for the freedom for which our spirits starve
the meagre water stopped running from the bloody faucets
physical frame inoculated structure made robust
a high-powered cannon tracing a new arc through the ideal-gulf
some may perish so that others may survive in the worm coliseum
Mankind engorged on this banquet of silent death
bodies yielding to bruise and mutilation so that some blood might flow
for that passion of the cross the jug set upon the pilgrim’s table.
SAD OCEAN
Body ablaze in the flame stoked by the soul
being itself outlined by this shifty feeling
the bottle filled until the top with terror
a kind of coolant or canned heat
working its way up the house terrace by terrace
with a glow-worm glow upon the roof of its mouth
servings of anguish gulp at the unpalatable body
signal-system of the ocean swallowing up the land and its extents
mango-groves drowning in waves of water roused by fate
a given day is never identical to the previous in its sadnesses
it recollects suffering with the washcloths applied to soak up
the sadness drenched in oceanated hellwater
reborn and rejuvenated with tears clogging
cisterns held erect by elaborate misery edifices
made of a savage feeling upon timeworn walls.
POEM OF UNLOCKING-DOWN
He put up the abyssal bed made of plastic
a hoarse-voiced far-ventured spirit
frame decked out from the armoury of deep slumber
he’d run aground in the sea of happy recollection
to the rhythm of a voice languid yet imbued with life
as Lazarus let himself be hailed by fate
“Persevere ye, man!”
he pierced the ship’s hull and made a back door exit
tossed his mask on the ground and rinsed his tongue with anti-bac
disinfected new and old routes to illumination
vaccinated the ribs on his straitjacket
went out among the multitudes and exhaled into a light
which veiled the lovers while revealing itself
unlocked in that tender embrace
a kiss on the chin disinfected a pair of colour-flooded shoulders in a barrel of affection
overmoving others to a disaffection
with the decaying architecture of the gaze’s circuits
a tyre was punctured and the gaze was fired
and doubt clapped up in the dungeon of cogitation
there was no reason for questioning the act
nonetheless, there was grace in the speed of the process
locking down an unlocked-down mind in the prison cells of time.
Deusa was born in Mozambique and has an MA in Accountancy and Auditory. She teaches at the Universidade Pedagógica and Universidade Politécnica, and she's a financial manager for the Global Project Fund – Malária. She's represented by the literary agency 'Capítulo Oriental'. She contributed to a number of newspapers and magazines, is a regular contributor to the Portuguese magazine InComunidade and is a columnist for the newspaper Correio da Palavra. She organised and contributed to a number of anthologies. She's the general coordinator of the Cultural Association Xitende and curator at International Festivals of Poetry. She wrote A voz das minhas entranhas (poetry, Fundac, 2014), Ao encontro da vida ou da morte (poetry, Letras de Angola, 2016) and Equidade no Reino Celestial (novel, Letras de Angola, 2016). Some of her work has been translated into Swedish.
Vita Dervan is an experimental poet and translator from London. She is a co-founder of RGB Colour Scheme lit mag and the Oxford Anthology of Translation.