be vast....

ALL SHE WANTED
WAS FIND A PLACE TO STRETCH HER BONES
A PLACE TO LENGTHEN HER SMILES
AND SPREAD HER HAIR
A PLACE WHERE HER LEGS COULD WALK
WITHOUT CUTTING AND BRUISING
A PLACE UNCHAINED
SHE WAS BORN OUT OF OCEAN BREATH.
I REMINDED HER;
‘STOP POURING SO MUCH OF YOURSELF
INTO HEARTS THAT HAVE NO ROOM FOR THEMSELVES
DO NOT THIN YOURSELF
BE VAST
YOU DO NOT BRING THE OCEAN TO A RIVER’

~   you are oceanic - Tapiwa Mugabe

Photography + artwork by Bernhard Handick

be(longing)

and what about belonging?

I have not yet found a place to be..

…so i am here

the evidence of a life

time spent longing.

be(longing) - Tapiwa Mugabe

Paloma Wool

a song to strengthen your faith….

Here

My hands as a pair of cups

to pour your tears

I will quieten your mind

so you can write your soul

I will be darkness to free your eyes 

You are sounds of home 

I am night stretching

to make room for your star

Making time for you

to learn how to twinkle again

So you may heal before dawn

I will give my heart and time

Just to see your smile

I see you

You do not need saving. 

Only reminding of who you are

a song to strengthen your faith - Tapiwa Mugabe

ph. Joseph Paradiso

water bearer...

I remember now,

How the threads of life unravel

A time ago unwrapping blessings became difficult

But I remember a love that kept me embalmed in water

And made me a water bearer.

There were times when I wished for even a fathers shadow

Days when I yearned to be yoked to my mother.

When I swam unclear waters hoping to cleanse

And I was baptised over a hundred nights

Washing in sacred tears that made the god of my grandmother weep to her knees.

I remember how to unclench my fists

I had nestled my insecurities into my core

And forgotten I had roots

But now that i see holiness in my skin

Now that my heart has grown into its own

Days of been an island are over.

water bearer - Tapiwa Mugabe

Doll parts by Jeff Bark for Oyster 104

reminders to be kind...

i am returning to kindness

a place where I am strong in my softness.

i will start by kissing all of my scars and washing then in rain

collecting dust from long journeys off

my feet.

the way they carry weariness from crossing rivers that should have had bridges.

I will return to build crossing paths over waters that reminded me to be kind.

— reminders to be kind - Tapiwa Mugabe

Julia Hetta

forget….

Some afternoons were made for lonely walks with your past

To lead it to down a river

Drown it in broad day light

It after all doesn’t mind reminding you how broken you are every 4 a.m

— forget - Tapiwa Mugabe
"Looks to Linger On", photographed by Deborah Turbeville for Mademoiselle December 1984

leavened heart….

I had hushed conversations with the moon

about a love that would leaven my heart.

And then you came,

latched onto my heart and burrowed deep to its seed.

A budding has sprouted out of my mouth

- a cluster of flowers dressed as your name.

— leavened heart - Tapiwa Mugabe
Guinevere van Seenus Photographed by Ben Hassett for Dior Magazine.

Healing….

I turned night

into water.

To swim

Heal all my bones.

Morning came

Cooked me 

into raw tenderness. 

—Healing -Tapiwa Mugabe

backstage at Corrie Nielsen by ger ger

you are oceanic...

 

All she wanted

was find a place to stretch her bones

A place to lengthen her smiles

and spread her hair

A place where her legs could walk

without cutting and bruising

A place unchained

She was born out of ocean breath.

I reminded her; 

‘Stop pouring so much of yourself

into hearts that have no room for themselves

Do not thin yourself

Be vast

You do not bring the ocean to a river’

— you are oceanic - Tapiwa Mugabe

The Eternal by Paolo Roversi

my thrill….

 ... if I had known free spirits are burning deities

I’d have stayed away from you

If I could…

Built a moat around my heart

Cloaked my soul and shut my eyes from your radiance

I am burning.

A beautiful fire has set me alight

You came into my life a far away wind blowing on foreign land

Carrying the smell of sweetened love with you

If I had known you would fan my spirit I’d have sought counsel from the four winds

and travelled earlier to find you

Look how I blush the colour of your soul

The colour of my heart before you came dancing to the sound of my name..

— my thrill - Tapiwa Mugabe, tapiwamugabe.tumblr.com

"ZZZ…": Natasha Poly by Tim Walker for LOVE #11 Spring/Summer 2014

Your becoming is inevitable….

Your becoming is inevitable 

Create to calm the boil

This will thaw out the numb spirit

Before floods of laughter 

And a hundred posies full of kisses

There will be nights turning into loneliness

You will go from soft to brittle then soft again 

You’ll learn grief is a horrible thing

that cooks anger and serves sadness

But you will rebuild yourself into something better

And you will find a new way to breath

Then you will fly and fly away

— your becoming is inevitable  - Tapiwa Mugabe

georgina stojiljkovic by Sarah Moon for grey ss11

I woke...

I woke up with your heart

in my mouth

Your name slipping from my mind

and pouring out of my hands.

- Tapiwa Mugabe 

anastasia by alyona kuzmina, U+mag