A Shot at Some Free Verse
- Mackenzie
- Dec 12, 2021
- 3 min read
Hi Wonderful Folks! We are long overdue for a post (Can I blame the sweet little newborn?) and I thought I’d pull up some inner creativity and share some recent events in the form of free verse poetry. Since Zimbabwe is in the thick of summer (super hot, rainy, and the earth comes to life), the poem has a theme of flora, fauna, heat, and our interactions with them. I hope you enjoy!
(Note- for those of you that don’t know I can occasionally whip up some pretty decent dry humor, just know that this is not a list of complaints! It’s just a fun expression of every day life in southwest Zimbabwe as someone who did not grow up with this level of heat and insect interaction. :)
Interactions: Flora, Fauna, and Heat
Two Adders visited the front door in a single week. Not Puffs, thankfully, but nevertheless the cleaning lady Subtracted them both.
An Unwelcome four-inch Scorpion greeted Brierly on the Welcome mat.
Despite their charming name, Christmas beetles are the worst. They come in droves. I find them in my hair as I try to fall asleep, I am disgusted. I am furious.
On my drive to a baby shower, a statuesque donkey keeps two hooves in my lane and two in the other. Smack dab in the middle of the road. Mr. Miyagi should have a word with him.
I woke up with three small blisters, one on my arm, another on the shin, the third on my lower back. From who knows what sort of bug.
The heat is like a blister too, swelling and swelling until the rain releases it. Or is it the heat that releases the rain?
We planted a fig tree over Selma’s buried placenta. When we visited the home where the tree is, it had already budded 3 fruits in 6 weeks. The Zimbabwe rains are so fertile. Never did I think I’d be someone bury a placenta, but here we are.
The temperature of the water coming out of the Cold tap is so hot, it has to cool down before the kids can take a bath. The Cold tap, I said.
For the hot days: to use our mobile A/C unit, the generator has to be on. Or with the solar power we can use the oscillating floor fan. Then the solar dies and I’m down to a mini personal fan clamped onto the headboard. It gets me to midnight then I’m without cooling mechanisms. I sweat either way.
When I was young I thought they were Praying Mantises. Now from the varieties of them I see here, I vote that they’re renamed Preying Mantises.
Chongololos, aka huge millipedes, can get into the house through the open windows. In case you didn’t know.
Some bee/beetle things bore holes in wood. Their holes are straighter than if you had used a drill bit. I wonder, as I nurse the baby on the veranda, how many holes they would have to bore before the strength of the board is compromised.
I got 24 new mosquito bites in a single night on just my legs. I didn’t even notice the mosquitoes because the Christmas beetles were so menacing. Imagine.
Flying ants come in at night and leave their wings behind as a memento of their visit.
Who needs electricity at night for white noise production when there’s a symphony of frogs, crickets, birds, and cicadas to drift off to sleep to?
Well, there you have it. My first free verse poem. Maybe the only one ever? Or the first of many? Who knows. I hope you enjoyed a glimpse into my daily life in this fun format.
On another front, some bullet point updates from our end! :: Our second daughter was born on October 7. It was a wonderful planned homebirth with the best birth team. We praise the Lord!
:: We finished our time at Ebenezer with such a bitter-sweetness. We are grateful for all the wonderful people there, the things we learned, and the ways our paths might cross in the future.
:: Brierly and I are excited to be moving just a few kilometers up the road towards town from Ebenezer. We've made an arrangement with a fellow dairy farmer and will update you on specific projects in January.
:: Thanks to some generous grandparents (Shoutout!!) we are visiting Michigan right now for Christmas. What a blessing to be able to introduce Selma to some of our dear friends and family during our transition time between gigs.
Keep Growing in your Courage in this season- remember Jesus told us to take courage from him... it isn't found in us naturally. Which is comforting right? We can always get more of it from the source, regardless of the amount we have today.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!
Love and Hugs,
Mackenzie, Brierly, Charlotte, and Selma
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