1. LIKE MEN DO
Featuring Garth Erasmus
This poem speaks to the way we see love; as possession, as a form of ownership, devoid of the freedom that true love brings. LIKE MEN DO is about recognising this pain we walk around with and about choosing to acknowledge it so that the path to healing can reveal itself.
2. dreams
There’s a point where your heart enters the conversation. Irrespective of where you find yourself on your journey towards healing, no one wants to be alone. So when love beckons we answer the call, only to learn the same lessons again. It’s the medicine you need to heal. But you are afraid, and that’s okay, you’re still willing to hurt again, to dream of forever.
3. Black Bird
Featuring Monthati Masebe
The theme here is insecurity. You find yourself so deeply in love with someone and all you want to know is do they feel the same. It’s about looking to the sky for some sort of sign, for a release from being suspended in fear, in love and in the need to know; does he love me too.
4. TALL ORDER
Featuring Garth Erasmus
Everyone has a type; I like tall men. This poem came to me after I had a discussion with a friend about the type of guy I like and realising that I actually have a type, if I am going to be honest. This poem was a freestyle, I had the idea in my head and wrote while reciting it, and had the final poem ready – words and flow – within a hour. It’s 1 of the more candid moments on SUGARWATER.
5. HOLY
The reconciliation of religion and sexuality. Written in the form of a prayer, using Anglican cadence and formula to construct this Psalm to God. Tears in the form of a prayer. It speaks to the darker side of the gay world. Dark deeds hidden in dark rooms or behind face masks for anonymity. This poem poses the question; who am I when God has forsaken me for the dark deeds I’ve done that have brought me closer to truly knowing and understanding myself because there’s no handbook for being queer.
6. REIGN
Featuring Monthati Masebe
That feeling of relief and of exaltation when you find your way through the pain into the arms of love. God’s love. The love for yourself. The love for another. The story ends in the sweet water.
