<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Somehow We Survive<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><font color="#0b0b0b" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">Somehow we survive</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">and tenderness, frustrated, does not wither.</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">Investigating searchlights rake</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">our naked, unprotected contours;</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">over our heads the monolithic decalogue</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">of fascist prohibition glowers</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">and teeters for a catastrophic fall;</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">boots club the peeling door.</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">But somehow we survive</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">severance, deprivation, loss.</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">Patrols uncoil along the asphalt dark</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">hissing their menace to our lives,</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">most cruel, all our land is scarred with terror,</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">rendered unlovely and unlovable;</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">sundered are we and all our passionate surrender</span><br class="" style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">but somehow tenderness survives.</span></font></div><div class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><font color="#0b0b0b" class=""><br class=""></font></span></div><div class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><font color="#0b0b0b" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Dennis Brutus</font></span></div><div class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span> (</span><font color="#0b0b0b" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(118, 118, 118); font-size: 14px; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">1924–2009</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">)</span></font></div><div class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: rgb(68, 68, 68); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><div class="o-article-hd" style="margin: 0px 0px 29px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 22px; font-family: adobe-garamond-pro; vertical-align: baseline; 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padding: 13px 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; float: left; width: 170px; align-items: flex-start; display: flex; justify-content: flex-end;"><ul class=" c-socialBlocks" data-view="ShareView" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 1px solid rgb(226, 226, 226); font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; display: flex;"><li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;" class=""><a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/dennis-brutus#" class="js-shareTwitter" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); transition: color 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.215, 0.61, 0.355, 1) 0s; display: flex; height: 40px; width: 40px; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><svg class="icon icon_twitter mix-icon_socialBlock icon_sm" role="presentation"><use xlink:href="#icon_twitter"></use></svg></a></li><li style="margin: 0px; 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padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); transition: color 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.215, 0.61, 0.355, 1) 0s; display: flex; height: 40px; width: 40px; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><svg class="icon icon_print mix-icon_socialBlock icon_sm" role="presentation"><use xlink:href="#icon_print"></use></svg></a></li><li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 1px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(226, 226, 226); font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;" class=""><a href="mailto:?subject=Poetry%20Foundation&body=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/dennis-brutus" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); transition: color 0.25s cubic-bezier(0.215, 0.61, 0.355, 1) 0s; display: flex; height: 40px; width: 40px; align-items: center; justify-content: center;" class=""><svg class="icon icon_envelope mix-icon_socialBlock icon_sm" role="presentation"><use xlink:href="#icon_envelope"></use></svg></a></li></ul></div></div></div><div class="o-article-bd" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div class="o-grid" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="o-grid-col_8of12 o-mix-grid-col_offset1of12 o-grid-col" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 100px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; float: left; width: 770px;"><div class="c-userContent" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: 14px;" class="">Born in Zimbabwe, poet and human rights activist Dennis Brutus grew up in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and was educated at Fort Hare University College. He taught high school for 14 years until he was dismissed for antiapartheid activism. After studying law at the University of the Witwatersrand and becoming increasingly active in movements opposing racial discrimination in sports, Brutus was shot and then sentenced to 18 months of hard labor on Robben Island, alongside Nelson Mandela. Forbidden to write or publish after his release, Brutus left South Africa in 1966 for England and then the United States.</span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>