The Poetry Stash: 03May2024

Measure for Measure by Sipho Sepamla

Today’s poem is “Measure for Measure” by Sipho Sepamla from the anthology Against Forgetting, Twentieth Century Poetry of Witness, edited by Carolyn Forché. The book is available for purchase here.

Measure for Measure by Sipho Sepamla

go measure the distance from cape town to pretoria
and tell me the prescribed area I can work in

count the number of days in a year
and say how many of them I can be contracted around

calculate the size of house you think good for me
and ensure the shape suits tribal tastes

measure the amount of light into the window
known to guarantee my traditional ways

count me enough wages to make certain that i
grovel in the mud for more food

teach me just so much of the world that i
can fit into certain types of labour

show me only those kinds of love
which will make me aware of my place at all times

and when all that is done
let me tell you this
you’ll never know how far i stand from you

Prompts:

1.	Begin with “measure the distance…”
2.	Begin with “teach me…”
3.	Draft a poem that explores apartheid.
4.	Draft a poem in which each stanza begins with an imperative verb. To learn more about imperative verbs, click here.

5. Photo by Pixabay via pexels.com. Use the image as a writing prompt.

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