HIV Nights
Today is World AIDS Day. December 1 is the annual date.
Though in the USA, HIV is no longer a death sentence, there is still no cure, no vaccine, and in many parts of the world, ARVs are still not available.
Phaswane Mpe, a South African writer, who passed away in 2004 wrote about the virus and its effects on the society around him. Here is a poem published in Words Gone Two Soon, edited by Mbulelo Vizikhungo Mzamane, p91.
loveLife - Phaswane Mpe
the only roll-on every woman wants
the billboards say
& we say …
we are not that woman
now that they say you are positive
bone of my heart
i will write you this loveLetter
i am waiting for words to run
to the tip of my fingers
but they enjoy the warmth
in the heart of my heart
feeding on the placenta
of my dreams for tomorrow
silence too is love
bone of my heart
let us lie on the green
& bask
