the new sun unwraps itself from the calm ocean
it crawls to kiss & embrace me

the ocean waves whisper to my naked feet
warm ocean sand tickles my naked feet

maputo, i am not ready to go back
to that freezing johannesburg.

Hillbrow’s Song

we unzip our dirty minds
to blast the thick & glistening
thighs of hillbrow

we salivate at the juicy
sarah baartmans
& naomi campbells
of the night

we loudly dance
shaku shaku
kwasa kwasa
sigide sishaye ne ndlamu

before the ladies of the night
take us up to their rooms
one by one
one by one
just to pay for a one-minute pee
it doesn’t matter
if you are a zulu or igbo
afrika unite
in the name of kuku here

so, welcome to our hillbrow

where decaying & filthy streets
house homeless junkies
in funky clothes

& my brother from another mother
breaks bread with cops. E


Zama Madinana is a South African poet whose work has appeared in The Shallow Tales Review, Kalahari Review, Hotazel Review, and Olney. He was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2022 and his poetry collection, ’94, was published in 2023. He has performed his poetry in Botswana, Mozambique, and Lesotho.