A deep silence has settled
no jubilant cheering crowds
no smiled greetings from vendors at traffic lights/on the streets/in the shops

just a stunned disbelieving quietness
just deep, tired  lines etched on the kind , caring faces around me

today …

and we turn into tomorrow
knowing that we are still here
just where we are meant to be
that ours is not to choose to turn and face the wall
but to keep stepping with grace
over stony ground

that we are here with deep learning
each with a different calling
but with the knowing that our greatest work
is to bring peace
into our families and communities and children

is to stay connected to what is real and beautiful
the happy voice of the young boy named Perfect playing next door
and the wide eyed welcoming smile of my grandson

to keep stepping with grace
over stony ground

At one time Mugabe’s skin colour made him worse than a pig, or a dog to those who wanted to rob him of his dignity. You can choose to learn from prejudice, or you can perpetuate it.

“If you’re a woman, if you’re a person of color, if you’re gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, if you’re a person of size, a person of intelligence, a person of integrity, then you’re considered a minority in this world. And it’s going to be really hard to find messages of self-love and support anywhere. It’s all about how you have to look a certain way or else you’re worthless. For us to have self-esteem is truly an act of revolution and our revolution is long overdue.”
- Margaret Cho

Photo: Jamie McLaren

Okay so we’ve had some long days and long nights in the run up to this election. How have we kept going? Well, in addition to the camaraderie of friends and cocktails, we’ve also eaten ten zillion Haribo strawbs. All the while we remain pimple free, and Defiant.

The absence of violence on Election Day isn’t enough to make these elections credible. – Vukasin Petrovic

I am officially drunk on red wine and Oliver Mtukudzi. – RAC

Fair elections? Lets be real there’s nothing fair about what is happening. It all started with the tampering of the voters roll.
- Mr. K Jnr

If absolute power corrupts absolutely, then why does Superman use his superpowers for good? – ThatZimGuy

Too many people turned away because they are not on the voters roll. Something is not right here. – Rumbidzai Dube

Our hands full or not:
The same abundance.
Our eyes open or shut:
The same light.

- Yves Bonnefoy, in The Curved Planks: Poems