Ayesha Kajee 2021 Literature Poems for a Better World: Silence i Silence is explicit Silence is complicit Complicity is violence So in the violence of our silence Let us take stock of our complicity ii Our complicity silences truth Muffles honour, rapes innocence The same innocence we plead Confronted by shattered delusion “We didn’t know” iii We wished to not know Blinded, deafened, deadened We turned away Bedecked ourselves in laurel Which now turns to rue iv Our silence - yours and mine - is explicit It is complicit It is violent And in its complicit explicit violence We too have bloodied our souls About Ayesha Kajee Ayesha Kajee, a South African human rights activist and political analyst, has written poems and stories since childhood, but rarely publishes them due to ingrained perfectionism. She was runner up for the Babishaiku haiku prize in 2016.
Literature Poems for a Better World: Silence i Silence is explicit Silence is complicit Complicity is violence So in the violence of our silence Let us take stock of our complicity ii Our complicity silences truth Muffles honour, rapes innocence The same innocence we plead Confronted by shattered delusion “We didn’t know” iii We wished to not know Blinded, deafened, deadened We turned away Bedecked ourselves in laurel Which now turns to rue iv Our silence - yours and mine - is explicit It is complicit It is violent And in its complicit explicit violence We too have bloodied our souls About Ayesha Kajee Ayesha Kajee, a South African human rights activist and political analyst, has written poems and stories since childhood, but rarely publishes them due to ingrained perfectionism. She was runner up for the Babishaiku haiku prize in 2016.
