On the road in Malawi
Cyclists transport family livestock and furniture
Lorries fight with the dust while monkeys meander
Branches worn of a funeral
Women walk for water
By the roadside girls sit and knit boys pull wired
cars
Women work and wash babies play in the dust
Men sit in the shade and watch
Piles of stone and wood wait
Thirsty folk dig in dry river beds
Children chew cane wear white smiles and wave
At the market stalls sell all ;eggs sit side by side
with soap
Everyone welcomes with beaming mouths
They have so little yet smile so much
By the lake bourgainvillea
kingfishers fish
All wallow in waterA lone canoeist paddled a coffin
across
the lake
Lots of coffin shops on the roadside
Heaven Bound Funeral Parlour
A lone canoeist paddled a coffin across the lake
Zikoma Thankyou for coming to my country said an old
man.
The sun set in the ochre dust sky
Mary Atkinson
(Winner of the Warkworth Show Poetry Competition, 2013)
