“There is no breath here
besides mine,” she said,
her heart beating
as if it is forever beginning to spring.
She could only speak to the walls.
She could only smile into doors.
Her eyes, fixed ahead,
she could only be in her own presence.
Without guitars, without drums,
she was on her own dancing through her storms.
Mamelodi Marakalala is a writer and artist in her early 20s. A student of life and all its thrills, she aspires to make some impact in the world someday. She has been fortunate enough to have a taste for literature and visual art and to use that energy wherever possible.