It’s a boy
I holler
to myself
through my pen

Out yonder we are
blue morning skies
there are from Lansdowne
to Site C Khayelitsha

I bask outside in the sun
at the Moses Mabhida Library
awaiting the readers

It’s a boy
Kwanele Mabala
from Sikhokelo Primary
reading in English
at the Reading Competition

in my own
beloved country
I am like my mother
tea-drinkingly English
so I don’t get the names
or what is being said

It’s a boy
he takes second place
after Iviwe Alexandra
from Sivile Primary

It’s a boy
squeezed in between
a confident and relaxed
pocket-sized clear winner
and Amahle Nomaxhayi
of Vuzamanzi Primary

In our beloved country
patriarchal and all
how many fellows
would grin and bear it

I amuse myself,
at the Moses Mabhida Library’s
Grade 7 Reading Competition,
3 June 2015.