Sounds Of The Rent Rising And Me Afraid Poem by Sarah Mkhonza

Sh! Listen to the sound
Outside getting closer,
Even louder than thuds
Pounding on the door.
This thunder with
Two hands that bang
With the loudest bang
Of the judges hammer
That declares
Silence in court.

For I am awaiting the debt collectors
Of heaven now that satan has done it
Again this raising of
The money for the rent.
This eviction was not reported
To the landlord of heaven
Where the promise of mansions
In glory remains true.

The rent collectors are here
In this space where bees
Sting us harder than wasps.
The landlord's pest ridden
Abode has me running up and down,
Hoping for justice to be done with
The raising of the gavel.
Now that their pounding feet
Are outside the steps
God save me from collapsing,
And falling into the rent hole
Which has me running from
One money machine to the other.

Me! Who thought eviction a disease
Of the homeless
I'm finally stepping out coins in hand.
Not even able to buy a submarine
To sink my hunger to the pits
That will submerge me under
And allow me to wage a serious rent war,
Where my espionage will torpedoe the landlord and his ships and send them
Reeling into the depths of the bay,
Where it will be sink, swim or die
For this is war, this eviction of
The San Francisco middle class and the poor.