16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence

Poem by Nkateko Masinga’s

16 days of activism against gender-based violence

perhaps if

on day 17

our loved ones

would wake up

from their graves

bodies unbattered

necks untwisted

killers jailed

or in the ground

where they

took others

it would be

easier

to understand

these two weeks

but instead

we are digging

more graves

graves stretching

for as far as our swollen

black eyes

can see

names trailing

behind hashtags

none of them named lazarus

none of them waking up

none of them coming home

on day 17

the chanting is softer

the dead have multiplied

the mourners are fewer