Temporarily Free - Rodney Roskruge

Thomas Sankara died for ideas
which still live on
today, tomorrow
red carpets for red berets
which can not stand upright
weighed down by tender bellies
made from Egypt, France and others

Problem - Goodwill Siboniso Mkhwanazi

Life yearned for by multitudes
A ceremony of the first fruits
That causes both young and old
To walk up and down

Elders of revolution - Thabang Waba Moabi

They lived by the amount of hope they had
Life being the only time they had, measured by the rise and fall of the sun
Upon the sky they called up light to lead their odyssey

A tree was chopped down - Zindzi Mandela

A tree was chopped down
and the fruit was scattered

Poem to a Poet - Siza Nkosi

I can only bring words to the altar of your soul

Yet sometimes I have no words to offer

But when my pen sinks in the sea of my blank mind

Sounds of your poetry carry me to my highest self

Babyfly - Tshifhiwa Itai Ratshiungo

Instinct told us to look out the window as quickly

as the babyflies came out of nowhere. The sun knew

to shed its glare on every curtain with the opening

of the clouds. Mothers did not shout at our eagerness

Advent Credo - Allan Boesak

It is not true that creation and the human family are doomed to destruction and loss—

This is true: For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life;

Mma - Tshifhiwa Itai Ratshiungo

You asked me not to make my words beautiful,

yet you told me of gods who ate butterflies gilded

with honey. I could imagine it, the taste of something

so delicate consecrated by those we give libation.

Home Truths - Sandile Ngidi

She says come in,

Feel at home

Her face a platter of unpretentious love

Wanting for our Fathers - Vuyi Qubeka

your lust

seeps into me

it forgets that I’m

your child

Follow the Light - Arthur Vine Hall

A dewdrop in shade of slenderest blade;

A foam-flake on verge of mountainous surge;

Countless Words In My Heart - Khuliso Musweswe

My Lord, Your works are wonderful

like the wind drives waves of the oceans

Your works drive millions of words out of my heart

like echoes of strong winds, Your works intensify every word uttered by my lips

Listen Compatriots! - Nontsizi Mgqwetho

Peace, Nintsizi, renowned for you chanting,

your poems are the nation's bounty.

No elephant finds its own trunk clumsy.

Oh peace, hen of Africa with sheltering wing!

Mania in the Post-Colony - Siyanda Qoto

I.

It is the morning

that I dread.

Vaslap across the face

razor sharps

run riot on my head.

Inside my Zulu hut - Oswald Mtshali

It is a hive

without any bees

to build the walls

with golden bricks of honey.

Freedom - Arja Salafranca

Freedom is a man with one arm,

a happy smile showing perfect white teeth,

a man who answers the phone in Maintenance with a chirp in his voice.

Shaken but not shattered - Sirbestian Nzula

The devil is a liar

He will attack your soul

Your soul will be on fire

Let Christ take control

Voices in The Wilderness - Duma Ndloru

If you listen to the wind
you will hear voices in the wilderness
sounds of hunters going after the hunted
music of afrika’s creation
melodies and rhythms
whispering in the wilderness;

when lights go out - Mongane Wally Serote

(for some who are in south african jails)

1
it is with the shadows of night
when the sun comes and goes
the moon comes and goes
that we ask, in weary voices, which fall into the depth of the gulf:
how does it feel to be you
watching and waiting
to feel the heavy weight of every minute come followed by another
and nothing
even everything written in blood
says nothing about how we could wake up tomorrow and build a day

corner pritchard - Siza Nkosi

corner pritchard
has a salon not wider
than the backroom of a house
in mzimhlophe