Brenton Sizwe Zola
How did grandpa die again?
He died of lupus.
His father died of lupus
His grandfather died of lupus
His great grandfather died of –
It’s in your blood
They say his great grandfather,
My great great great grandfather was tortured
A man thought to be a prophet committed the crime
of urging African skin to believe in its own dignity
– the original sin–
He led a resistance of thousands
Against Belgians,
And looked to expunge a phage from the nation;
But blood will have blood.
drops
and
drips
And mud will have mud
A plot in the ditch
Which they dug for a man of the dirt
And beckoned him to return home.
Through weeks of shattered bones and monstrous machinations
Squeezing oozing mind from soiled ears
They scattered his liquid essence around that murderous room
But it was that bloody smile.
That bloody smile they could never snap in half
His spirit was inured.
His blood endured
So they whispered a sanguine song
A liquid language –cursed –
To spill his sons and daughters
From the inside.
Braking minds and branking bodies
As any trace of his blood is payment.
A penance to the will of ghosts.
My blood is constantly fighting a war.
In itself.
With itself.
For itself.
Low platelets
[You don’t look too well]
Low T-Cells
[We need to treat you]
Low Iron
[Your blood isn’t strong enough]
Low Neutrophils
[You will struggle with this condition your whole life]
Foaming ghosts, foaming for atonement.
I hear the tremor in my hand.
The treble in my veins.
It’s the blood that howls the threnody of me snapping
myself
The pains and pleasures of histories.
I can only smile.
And endure. Inured.
It’s in my blood
—
Brenton Sizwe Zola is a first-generation writer, interdisciplinary artist, and researcher. Informed by experiences of childhood homelessness, global travel, and a lineage of African spiritual leaders, his work examines themes of myth, spirit, and sanctity. He is the winner of the 2025 Marianne Russo Award at the Key West Literary Seminar (selected by Andre Dubus III) and his writing has appeared in Newsweek, American Theatre, Boulevard, and on NPR. A former Edith Wharton Writer-in-Residence, LinkedIn Creator Accelerator member, and Periplus Fellow, he holds an MFA from UCLA. Beyond the page, his work has been exhibited at institutions including the Denver Art Museum, with performance credits at the United Nations and MoMA.