Uncommon Banyan II: The Tender’s Call
An acceptance speech in verse upon appointment as inaugural Commonwealth Poet Laureate Delivered at Commonwealth Foundation, Marlborough House, June 12,…
Tectonic
you
my seismic sibling
in your tectonic tantrum
have unearthed
me
so
i
am
no more parent
to my visions of liberty
nor this cryptic urge
to
be
done with
embalmed or
blended in pregnant lava
where you bloom
i know you
as
a
crimson stain
on my obsidian dreamscape
a pyroclastic flash of
hope or fear
I put you on my tongue a thousand times
As Matsuo once wisely said to do
I put you on my tongue a thousand times
And each time was familiar and new
A thousand times, a thousand tastes, and you
Were the same delight, same simple sublime
So, I know what Matsuo said was true
Each time the bitter-sweet, strong, tangy brew,
Kande* tea or gin and tonic with lime,
Saturates my senses in sassy revue
Whenever some intangible ink is strewn,
Some trace across that lithe and lovely frame,
I must sample as Matsuo would do
And swallow the breath that escapes from you
Your voice is mine, my memory, your lines
If words were women, they would surely sue
What I cannot divulge, you have divined
I put you on my tongue a thousand times
As Matsuo once wisely said to do
And each time is familiar and new
*Kande (kan-deh) is kande kulung, the term used in Papua New Guinea for sugar from sugar cane, also meaning very sweet tea or coffee, but also used to refer to people (or the custom) of Finschhafen District in Morobe Province, who are renowned for their capacity of drinking copious amounts of sweet tea throughout the hot tropical day.
Illustration © Chela Yego
