Adiela Akoo"Suits" and "Urban Dance"Suits They lied! It’s not the same! You watch re-runsto reconcile a semblance of reel and real lifeTo console and remind yourself of the reason you started… First to fade is the illusion of glamour:you swop heels for flats to parley...
Volume 21 Poetry
Kabugho Immaculate – “Falling Bullets”
Kabugho Immaculate"Falling Bullets"Falling Bullets And when the bullets began to flower, Tuu taa tuu tuu taa taa, we still marched forward. The iron smelters had done their work perfect, pangas swished and speared whispered. Not even the sight of red stopped us; we...
Nidhi Agrawal – “Two Worlds” and “Evoke: :Invoke”
Nidhi Agrawal"Two Worlds" and "Evoke: :Invoke"Two Worlds I have been looking forThe places where the rhythm ofMy breezy heart is making music.In the perceptible existence,I find nothing.In the inconspicuous hallucination,I find nothing.Just as the essence ofLavender...
Zeenit Saban Jacobs – “We Do Not Speak About The Cranes”
We Do Not Speak About The Cranes When At-Tabari told about the high flyingbirds, where did they hide their ears?Black-necked cranes that have lived forcenturies; three encircle a red fez party,and a bevy of embellished scarves untilthey are naked and suffering…But...
Siyanda Qoto – “A Country”
Siyanda Qoto"A Country"A Country The midnight oil has burnedand what remains of stringis but a withered strandhanging on by a thread. Siyanda Qoto is a wordsmith hailing from Gqeberha, South Africa. His body of published poetry has been featured in reputable...
Partha Sarkar – “Women Protesting in India, Afghanistan, and Other Places” / “The Third Phase of the Night”
Partha Sarkar"Women Protesting in India, Afghanistan, and Other Places" / "The Third Phase of the Night"Women Protesting in India, Afghanistan, and Other Places Women protesting againstThe stinky attireThe scepterOf the ghouls inIndiaAndAfghanistanAnd other places.A...
J. G. Morake – “From a model-c school”
J. G. Morake"From a model-c school"From a model-c school I am a childfrom a model-c schoolarmed with my Englisheloquentwith flairand as much desperationas the fees scraped together latefor the most precise words,strung just solike notes on a staffsat bareto be read....
Karin Schimke – “A very old story” and “Two ways to read a storm”
Karin Schimke"A very old story" and "Two ways to read a storm"A very old story Have I told you the storyof my mother’s mouth —my mother’s weeping mouth,toothless in pain, hermouth wounds, thebleeding palate, theblood on her chin, theblisters, the clear runof the sores...
Salimah Valiani – “Natalia Molebatsi and Bab’Themba Mokoena in dance” and “Diepsloot Winter (pre-loadshedding)”
Salimah Valiani"Natalia Molebatsi and Bab’Themba Mokoena in dance" and "Diepsloot Winter (pre-loadshedding)"Natalia Molebatsi and Bab’Themba Mokoena in dance — after Poetic Thursdays, Soweto Theatre, February 28 2019 she was easy as sunflowerslacing words with...
Kelwyn Sole – “Brand” and “The lesson for today” and “What ocean”
Kelwyn Sole"Brand" and "The lesson for today" and "What ocean"Brand Tell us sir, why are you so full of shit? Now come on, Man, don't be afraid, speak right up into the microphone. – Amiri Baraka ('Blue Whitie') Can you gig it? A posture of street smartson the...
Stuart Payne – “The Blanket Man” and “Mulberry”
Stuart Payne"The Blanket Man" and "Mulberry"The Blanket Man He wanders through the twilightof the suburb. Houselightsglow amid their creakingtrees and smells of cookingmingle on the windsas he goes by, a blanketround his shoulders, walkingroads that only leadaway,...
Iyra Maharaj – “himalaya” and “i prefer birds in cages”
Iyra Maharaj"himalaya" and "i prefer birds in cages"himalaya it took an ache of an ageto climb into terrestrial hide but the day i found youwas the day sun devils dropped dead a bipedal knockon their sloping sycamore laws to climb into milkand boil with the...
Zolani Kupe – “Mixology of life” and “Push him against”
Zolani Kupe"Mixology of life" and "Push him against"Mixology of life Maybe maybe I must change L to become R and maybe if I do it like that Mandela will become Madeira and greed will become build and then this means instead of having Greediness we will have greatness...
Abdul Kayum Ahmed – “Gorée” and “Tutu”
Abdul Kayum Ahmed"Gorée" and "Tutu"Gorée when all that remains are echoes and dust i will feel your heart beat in my throatand fill my lungs with your tears i will sew your love into my fleshand set my dark skin on fire when pain is all we are capable of i will fill...
Frank Meintjies – “Little artist within” and “Oceanic”
Frank Meintjies"Little artist within" and "Oceanic"Little artist within Rise and twirlfrom the calcified bowlthat is my skull Dance sing portray stretching voice toe impressions in the sand And then pirouetteto raw ideaagain Oceanic (written to mark World Oceans Day...
Dshamilja Roshani – “Tonight We Are Out”
Dshamilja Roshani"Tonight We Are Out"Tonight We Are Out The streets smell of escape and an urge to be seen.We can’t control our dreams so we stay up all night,we dress as we like and outshine all the blame,we refuse to blend into inherited shame. Tonight we are out,...
Monica Kagan – “Thorns”
Monica Kagan"Thorns"Thorns Extending my fingers,thorns prickle I am a supplicantin the soft petals of desirefor the intimate other Skin and salt,I exploreYour soul’s orbit,I trace Discord detonatesThickets like daggerspenetrate shriveled leaves IntertwinedI cannot...
Emily Buchanan – “The Snow” and “About Flowers”
Emily BuchananThe Snow" and "About Flowers"The Snow In another life I livedin my own country,a professor, maybe. Here I work part-time, care forchildren, am perhaps more compliantthan I might have been. But I’ve inhabited that other life almostas if I lived it — my...
Claire Anderson – “Drakensberg” and “Kindling”
Claire Anderson"Drakensberg" and "Kindling"Drakensberg We drove from valleys like dried foam,jungle thick, clotted with vegetation,to where the hills are like downy kneesor arms crossed along the backs of sofas Here the ground is thick with grasshoppers,butterflies...
Alexander Murie – “Nightlights” and “Calling Him (A Praise of Loadshedding)”
Alexander Murie"Nightlights" and "Calling Him (A Praise of Loadshedding)"Nightlights In this country the night-Light is keptOutside, with the stars, moonHumming. Some mouldOn the bricks, on the old bird cageBehind the hibiscus. In this country the night-Lights scream...
Jarred Thompson – “Speleology”
Jarred Thompson"Speleology"Speleology I enter your bedroom and find you upright and heaving,your second pair of lungs gurgling at the foot of your bed.I bring you news about the month, day, the suncrawling its way across the stoep. Pain. In your stomach.You’re not as...
Deborah Seddon – “Thin Line” / “I Know You Are Reading This Poem” / “Reggae for Bob”
Deborah Seddon"Thin Line" / "I Know You Are Reading This Poem" / "Reggae for Bob"Thin Line I Know You Are Reading This Poem (after Adrienne Rich, “Dedications”) I know you are reading this poem lying flat on the couch by the window,aware of the little lizards...
Tshegofatjo Makhafola – “christmas lunch” and “your hearts”
Tshegofatjo Makhafola"christmas lunch" and "your hearts"christmas lunch you dress up your depression withthe loudest laughter.camouflage it with grace and trifle.stuff all you can in your mouth.hide all that can cause a scene.ask for more beetroot.have your bleeding...
Melissa Sussens – “Ode to the Green Kalahari” and “Driftwood”
Melissa Sussens"Ode to the Green Kalahari" and "Driftwood"Ode to the Green Kalahari Oh land of empty vleis turned meerkat cradles,you basin for bokdrol and birds;how glorious your transformationafter the Autumn rains—how you liveup to your name—green bushes daringto...
Adipo Sidang’ – “how to mourn a country”
Adipo Sidang'"how to mourn a country"how to mourn a country a country trickles like an ebbing creek inside the body of a dying man if rivers run dry this is how they do – feeble breathing hiccups organ failure the city clock violently strikes noon as if the minute...
Stephen Devereux – “19” and “how to disappear”
Stephen Devereux"19" and "how to disappear"19 for Jesse Hess (19) and Uyinene Mrwetyana (19) you are not deadthis is not griefyou were not rapedthis is not rage these flowers are not for youthese flowers are for the post officethis poem is not for you or youthis poem...