Page 29 - LOCKDOWN POETRY

-------- lockdown poetry --------

IDENTITY CHECK

Tsoane M

Trapped in a basement of despondency

Submitting to its command like a doormat

I’m haunted by self

How do I turn the knob to escape it?

I look for my way and run
The wind finds me

It sways me to left, to the right and to the left again

Anchored by external comfort – affirmation is an illusion

Am I lost?

Am I found?

Where am I?

What am I?

Where do I rid the volume of the voices?

I want to climb up the self-esteem ladder

Slowly I grab the reigns

Not as heavy as envisaged

It’s a battle to reach the top

I gain control of my once wobbly backbone

How bizarre as it proved tedious

Accentuating relentless finesse

The pigments of my skin grow thick

Unlearning one’s idea of who you are is self-mastery.

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