Bala

By Sethunya Hlobisa Matsie

We’re in brown and red.
When she said read, I spelt.
My words coming anchored within
Shame tinted cords.
Sinking in my seat.
Bala!

Swallowing breaths and snickering.
Muffled laughs breaking the stiff silence.
Time is a conspirator,
Private schooling accent a dagger,
Sweat wetting my white shirt.
Bala!

At the full stop, I exhale.
And pause to listen to my neighbour
Spelling slowly, more hilarity.
My turn now – I join in,
Reining in the tickles.

At last, the bell!
Maybe we’ll return to who we were that day,
On the side of the classroom,
Basking in the winter sun,
Spelling words we should be reading.

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Sethunya Hlobisa Matsie is a Motswana poet, specialist wellness counsellor, and ergonomist based in South Africa. Her work, which has been published by Brittle Paper, examines legacies of pain and the slow, deliberate work of healing the self and the communal body.

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