{"id":3063,"date":"2026-10-26T21:33:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T21:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=3063"},"modified":"2026-10-26T21:42:37","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T21:42:37","slug":"seven-shirts-clothesline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=3063","title":{"rendered":"Seven Shirts Clothesline"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Rukudzo Onai<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the turf wars of township titans,
Gold is separated from lightning ash.
Chitungwiza sneezes; Berlin takes a jab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A king bites dust, the bishop sleeps in his bed.
Lords of misrule throw streets off the scent,
Country-building between pulpit and biller shed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet nobody had ever heard of the World Cup
Decided from our good old Zengeza 4 Terminus
Till \u201906 rambled to photo-finish like a wrestling cut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not favelas with Coca-Cola goalposts in the sand;
King Pele and Emperor Adriano rule those badlands
But \u201906 was nothing like barefoot ballet in the sand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not United States of Africa in the French shirt
While Addis Ababa mafia scratch each other\u2019s back;
In \u201906 Dictator Mbappe was still lost in Disneyland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Germany \u201906 was a series of misfiring curses
Targeting soccer shirts on a scarecrow, stolen
To hurt Tumbuzviyo only to jinx his Pan-African line-up\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

continues next web instalment<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the turf wars of township titans,
\nGold is separated from lightning ash.
\nChitungwiza sneezes; Berlin takes a jab. <\/p>\n

A king bites dust, the bishop sleeps in his bed.
\nLords of misrule throw streets off the scent…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poems","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nSeven Shirts Clothesline | Blockspace<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=3063\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Seven Shirts Clothesline | Blockspace\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the turf wars of township titans, Gold is separated from lightning ash. 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