“Saudade (v)” + “Pedra do Sal or, On love (xxxiii)” by Salimah Valiani
the first time I flew from my child
every small being
reminded of her
the boy at OR Tambo more daring but same size
just as active
the boy of the hills
much older but of the same wide eyed world-sensitivity
missing his mum choked by drought
when his dad leaves him
(with strangers that are family)
the only known one left
the barren lamb his mum used to keep
the way the boy tends to that lamb
feeding it by hand
showing it forbidden forests
holding it near
I miss tending to my daughter
near the end
another orphan (the boy’s new friend)
bids him farewell
then the lamb too
saudade
ever-linking
chain of human existence
— After Lamb (directed by Yared Zeleke)
Pedra do Sal
or, On love (xxxiii)
amid
young and old samba artists
dancing sipping mixing
fruit ice spirits
booming beats around the bend and up
in a square
bringing to heart
Santa Ria in Havana
New Orleans before Katrina
Caribana before the bank
a young girl approaches
the young girls in our party
presents them with tangerines
like the one she is eating
later
after much hand gesturing
nodding and smiling
we offer the girl sweets we’d bought
she gently refuses
hugging us farewell
Salimah Valiani is a poet, activist, and researcher based in Johannesburg. She has published four collections of poetry: breathing for breadth (TSAR: 2005), Letter Out: Letter In (Inanna: 2009), land of the sky (Inanna: 2016) and Cradles (Daraja: 2017). Her latest publication, the poem-story, Dear South Africa, is one of seven pieces in Praxis Magazine’s 2019-2020 Chapbook Series. Her upcoming poetry collection, 29 leads to love will be published by Inanna in May 2021. Check out her work online at: https://www.facebook.com/SalimahValianiPoet/
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