Perfect Place

Les Murray has his Bunyah.

John Kinsella his Wheat Belt.

Thomas Hardy his Wessex.

Dylan Thomas his Fern Hill.

Robert Frost his road to choose …

Blankets to warm and comfort them.

I have Matabeleland:

as does my good friend John Eppel.

For him the blanket is being

ripped off, and he weeps poetry.

For me it is like someone

long dead, whose face fades fast …

I once had the Matopos.

__________________________

John Eppel: Zimbabwe’s finest poet

Matopos: Granite hills outside Bulawayo, Matabeleland. A sacred place to all Zimbabweans