| Poetic Matrix periodic letteR Archive |
Poetry By Dennis Brutus, writing from Robben Island
Letters to Martha
1
After the sentence I scampered to the window
mingled feelings: and saw the splashes of light
sick relief, where the stars flowered.
the load of the approaching days
apprehension -but through my delight
the hints of brutality thudded the anxious boots
have a depth of personal meaning; and a warning barked
from the machine-gun post
exultation - on the catwalk.
the sense of challenge,
of confrontation, And it is the brusque inquiry
vague heroism and threat
mixed self-pity that I remember of that night
and tempered by the knowledge of those rather than the stars.
who endure much more [20 December 1965]
and endure...
18 Postscripts
I remember rising one night
after midnight
and moving These are not images to cheer you
through impulse of loneliness - except that you may see in these small
acts
to try and find the stars. some evidence of my thought and caring:
but still I do not fear their power to wound
And through the haze knowing your grief, your loss and anxious care,
the battens of fluorescents made rather I send you bits to fill
I saw pinpricks of white the mosaic of your calm and patient knowledge
I thought were stars. - picking the jagged bits embedded in my mind -
Greatly daring partly to wrench some ease for my own mind.
I thrust my arm through the bars And partly that some world sometime
may know.
and easing the switch in the corridor
plunged my cell in darkness
Letters to Martha
1
After the sentence I scampered to the window
mingled feelings: and saw the splashes of light
sick relief, where the stars flowered.
the load of the approaching days
apprehension -but through my delight
the hints of brutality thudded the anxious boots
have a depth of personal meaning; and a warning barked
from the machine-gun post
exultation - on the catwalk.
the sense of challenge,
of confrontation, And it is the brusque inquiry
vague heroism and threat
mixed self-pity that I remember of that night
and tempered by the knowledge of those rather than the stars.
who endure much more [20 December 1965]
and endure...
18 Postscripts
I remember rising one night
after midnight
and moving These are not images to cheer you
through impulse of loneliness - except that you may see in these small
acts
to try and find the stars. some evidence of my thought and caring:
but still I do not fear their power to wound
And through the haze knowing your grief, your loss and anxious care,
the battens of fluorescents made rather I send you bits to fill
I saw pinpricks of white the mosaic of your calm and patient knowledge
I thought were stars. - picking the jagged bits embedded in my mind -
Greatly daring partly to wrench some ease for my own mind.
I thrust my arm through the bars And partly that some world sometime
may know.
and easing the switch in the corridor
plunged my cell in darkness
