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African Writing Archives


   

Phindiwe Nkosi

 

 

Phindiwe Nkosi

Nkosi, 22, is South African. She writes as BuBbLyPiPs and has a degree from the University of Pretoria (majoring in English, Visual Communication and Drama). She has contributed to magazines, newspapers and poetry compilations.

   
     

 
 Erode

 

*

 

ONE

Erode: to wear out, grind down, to eat away deep into fragments of incomplete particles longing to be whole.

Erode; a process of weakening in the authentic present. It’s rusting beyond oxidation as flickers of dominant spectrums palpitate. The wear away of wholeness, the disintegration of a unified artwork into a segmented jig-saw puzzle of realities. Like crumbling, flaking entities tumbling down the cliff without a harness. Free-falling downwards in un-patterned spirals, fizzing sideways whilst falling apart in utter deterioration… eroding.

Erode…What has that got to do with me? Wrong question.

What has that to do with you? Transcend into the next visualization to find out. Go beyond, into the moment after you left. Surpass the second after you closed the door knowing that the almost lifeless life depended on you to stay. Exceed the second took to step away from the unconscious, unmoving, unresponsive being pleading most fervently for you to stay.

Erode…What has that got to do with me? Wrong question.

What has that to do with you?

 

*

 

TWO

The wear away of wholeness, the disintegration of a unified artwork into a segmented jig-saw puzzle of realitieis. A co-constructed collage that transformed into a patchwork of art within a genre yet unclassified. Conducting rhythms yet unheard composed of undefined beats. Like crumbling, flaking entities tumbling down the cliff without a harness. Free-falling downwards in un-patterned spirals, fizzing sideways whilst falling apart in utter deterioration… eroding.

Erode…What has that got to do with me? Wrong question.

What has that to do with you?

Erode: to wear out, grind down, to eat away deep into fragments of incomplete particles longing to be whole.

To be whole beyond the moment you walked out the door in spite of knowing that the almost lifeless life depended on you to stay. The life stayed behind the door. In spite of the attempted detachment, time went on. Time united that which was almost forgotten. Memories refreshed the mirages. The illusions tried to be forgotten.

It was still, but not still enough to block out the final plea before the page was abruptly torn out of the book. It was derailed from its context so meaning would not be wholly formed again.

Walked away most powerfully, walked away most subtly out of that door to construct a new reality without that pleading yell. Walked off most aggressively, determined not to look back. Tried to stop the past from looking forward towards you before it. Desperately tried to stand still without wanting to ask what would happen after departure.

Erode: to wear out, grind down, to eat away deep into fragments of incomplete particles longing to be whole. What has that to do with me?

 

*

 

THREE

Remember the laughs at the silliest jokes thought to be just the best? It was incredible, some even said it was predestined. Your palm touched and lock-gripped the palm… fizzing playful sensations bounced on gloating sunshine. Then you remembered, now you know.

What you do not know is what happened after the feet left the ground and spiraled unparallel with the cliff… What has that to do with you?

The wind carried on in the same direction and wind speed. The turbulence was an effect of the free-falling without a harness. Unrehearsed freestyle that is not rehearsed. Sincere screams bounced down the hills begging you to throw the rope. Pleading for a floating device that was not paid for, to be thrown down to soften the landing…

Erode: to wear out.

Pre-erode: no grinding down nor wearing out takes place now. Just the scream begging to turn into a song to be sung. Just a bunch of clean needles in sealed boxes with herbs freshly attached to the branches. No mixtures from nature to come up with the tainted natural. Unfiltered rays, nature at its purest. Not the natural, but nature.

     
 
             
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