A Poem by Julius Chingono
AS I GO
My pot is an old paint container
I do not know
who bought it
I do not know
whose house it decorated
I picked up the empty tin
in Cemetery Lane.
My lamp, a paraffin lamp
is an empty 280ml bottle
labelled 40 per cent alcohol
I picked up the bottle in a trash bin.
My cup
is an old jam tin
I do not know who enjoyed the sweetness
I found the tin
in a storm-water drain.
My plate is a motor car hub-cap cover
I do not know
whose car it belonged to
I found a boy wheeling it, playing with it
My house is built
from plastic over cardboard
I found the plastic being blown by the wind
It’s simple
I pick up my life
as I go.
© 1994, Julius Chingono
Publisher: First published on PIW in a special Zimbabwean edition, 10th June 2008
Publisher: First published on PIW in a special Zimbabwean edition, 10th June 2008
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5 Responses to “A Poem by Julius Chingono”
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A quite wonderful sentiment, I enjoyed this one very much.
One of my favourites of Mr Chingono. You might enjoy an interview I did with him some time ago on my blog. His name is on the “Labels” list to the right.
Wonderful. It provokes something of a meditation on ‘freedom from’ and ‘freedom to’.
So nice to be careless like the author. I wish I could! But I guess that’s what poetry is for…
I always liked poems of Chingono and this is one of the best of him that lets me feel happy.