[Poem] Life Lesson

Life Lesson

Now, I am too much of a coward
to try for at least one child.
It will mean having to develop a lesson plan
for the valuation of human life.
I will have to teach that not all weigh the same
and this assessment is no constant measure,
that on a Monday, they may be priceless
and by Friday, their blood may as well be
the stuff left in a bucket after a chicken is cleaned.
I, myself, fail this course, again and again.

15/10/23
Saaleha Idrees Bamjee

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saaleha

I am a writer and photographer (look up my work on www.shootcake.com) based in Johannesburg, South Africa. I have an MA in Creative Writing from the university currently known as Rhodes. My writing accolades include winning the 2014 Writivism Short Story Prize and the 2020 Ingrid Jonker Poetry Prize for my debut collection, Zikr.

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