By Bradley Leipego Once upon a time I was the richest manRiches bulged in my breast pocket Wealth was written on my faceRadiating as I walked the room Once upon a time I owned the moonMy very own moon I feared nothing because I had my moonNot even wraiths that lurked in the room My... Continue Reading →
By Miranda B. Joubert The mansion was deathly quiet. Elijah’s wife and children were away on vacation in Namibia. He sat next to his longtime friend, personal traditional doctor and diviner, Tshiamo. Tshiamo held an ice pack to his pulsating face. Elijah had just punched him and wasn’t going to apologise. He probably felt justified.... Continue Reading →
By PoeticPosh I am the story that the wind carries,A patchwork of dreams, scars, and memories,Not just the soil beneath my feet,But the fire that sparks when I meet my own heartbeat. I wear the colours of my ancestors’ tales,In laughter, in tears, in storms, and in sails,I am the echo of voices long gone,Yet... Continue Reading →
By Ophadile Gofhamodimo Yo, it’s the season, lights gleam on the streets,But some of us are walking with no shoes on our feet.While the world’s unwrapping, we be unwrapping dreams,Painting skies of hope where the hopelessness gleams. This ain’t about the gifts that you find under trees,It’s the strength of our roots, yeah, it’s family... Continue Reading →
By Mirrors When we were young, we were taught to suppress,as if truth itself was noisy and too heavy for air.They called it selfish, dramatic, a messour needs folded into silence into unspoken prayers. But as we mature, we reclaim what was lostthe right to speak from the core, not hide in the dark.Silence breeds... Continue Reading →
By Teedzani Thapelo i am the silent part of the machineforgotten gear in the belly of its steel hearteach day a copy of yesterday’s grey,i am facelesslost between the minutes clocked in.but last night in the static hum of the factory floori dreamed of unemployment like a field of wildflowerswhere the air smelled of freedom... Continue Reading →
By Noah Vale The women I love I could never writePoems aboutThe words would slip through my fingers,Spilled ink drying before meaning couldForm.But whiskey, painkillers, and cigarettesI could lead forums about,Speak in tongues of smoke and burn,Turn my wounds into well-crafted sentences. They listen when I talk about the bottle’sComfort,The numbing lull of little white... Continue Reading →
By Ronald Tlhokojapelo The summer solstice hadcome at last.And quietly crept throughthe windows of societylike an insidious fog.The rains being late,the dry figs fellto the grounda loose teardropfrom an ecstatic eye,drawing neither applausenor reproof.The bloomed hyacinth lingeredover the bronzed alpslike an ancient monumenton a desolate courtyard.Stern.Unwavering.Timeless.They could all be heard.The howl of the noontideand the... Continue Reading →
By Amantle Gabolekwe You hate me. Which is tragic, because Gladys and your mother already decided you’re my therapist. Not officially, that would be a boring man named Dr. Matsheka, who runs group sessions at my university where the posters read Wellness is a Journey. Never mind that you’re only an undergraduate student in sociology... Continue Reading →
By Tapiwa. If only I could build four wallsTo surround meA sanctuaryMy personal monasteryTo sit in silence and seek retributionFor my tainted soulTo understand this esoteric natureThat resides within meTo lay to restThis suffocating feeling of disdainTo be one with every elementAnd nothing that exists in this dimensionSilence in isolationBirthing complete peace If only I... Continue Reading →
Petlwana Journal of Creative Literature and the Arts 