In this piece of The POET’S HAVEN, we witness pen bellowing for urgent radical change; the sort of poetry that yearns for true justice, equity, and liberation. In solidarity with all the workers of the world subjected to inhumane conditions just to eke out a wretched living, Blessing S. Chigunda offers an illuminating insight into the struggles of the subaltern classes with the poem ‘Unfair Labour Practice’. The rich get richer while the poor get poorer.
A touch of the Communist...
And in this we have critical Zimbabwean poetry from the best of Zimbabwe’s poets. This poem this finds a haven here. Read on:
Unfair Labour Practice by Blessing S. Chigunda
Lifeless arms of a hungry peasant
wields a heavy jackhammer.
Which stood erect
Deflowering and desecrating the virgin rock
In spasmodic kicks
It ejaculate compressed drilling alkaline water splashing it into homosapien brows
Perforating holes into a mineral laden rock,
Sprawled like a raped whore,
The rock squirts her minerals.
In wagons these raw minerals like sperms in a condom are delivered to hands of thieves with tensed or flexed political muscles.
Hands circumcised with blunt edges of blasted rocks drips with pitiable malnourished blood,
Bandaged with pieces of torn clothes from oil tainted overalls
They're denied healthy facilities!
"Work or find yourself out of this firm" snarled the foreman
To the injured employee.
Women deprived of fair maternity leave!
Deprived ample time to nurse their kwashiorkor plagued kids!
Denied time to attend funerals of their relatives!
Rights cease to be rights
When equality ain't equal.
xxx
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