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Poetry
A space for poems, spoken pieces, and collections shaped by pressure, memory, fracture, and feeling.
Browse by collection, spoken work, theme, or recency.
A sun-drenched free-verse poem where a sleeping body, a fan, and an orange room leave behind a halo of heat, colour, and absence.
A sensory free-verse poem about a photograph's missing weather, tracing heat, salt, an exposed ankle, and memory beyond the visible frame.
A dark poem of milk light, merciless, and man, holding fear, fracture and survival in view.
A resilient poem of smoke, lifts, and kettles, charting self-possession and forward motion.
A dark poem of polite, boardroom, and bites, holding fear, fracture and survival in view.
A surreal poem of wears, head, and branching, moving through strangeness, transformation and crossing.
A dark poem of laughs, windows, and thrown, holding fear, fracture and survival in view.
A surreal poem of sun, nailed, and behind, moving through strangeness, transformation and crossing.
A dark poem of tongues, thorned, and fruit, holding fear, fracture and survival in view.
A surreal poem of hair, forks, and lightning, moving through strangeness, transformation and crossing.
A satirical poem of teal, skin, and orange, pressing wit, absurdity and refusal against the world.
A dark poem of neat, geometry, and risk, holding fear, fracture and survival in view.
A surreal poem of grey, slow, and light, moving through strangeness, transformation and crossing.
A surreal poem of milk light, wall, and black, moving through strangeness, transformation and crossing.
A surreal poem of studio, colour, and cobalt, moving through strangeness, transformation and crossing.
A resilient poem of colour, quiet, and water, charting self-possession and forward motion.
A surreal poem of pale, fridge, and power, moving through strangeness, transformation and crossing.
A surreal poem of pale, fridge, and load shedding, moving through strangeness, transformation and crossing.
A dark poem of once, slipped, and velvet, holding fear, fracture and survival in view.
A surreal poem of hush, heartbeat, and stem, moving through strangeness, transformation and crossing.
A surreal poem of braid, straps, and patrols, moving through strangeness, transformation and crossing.
A reflective poem of panes, sweat, and salt, exploring change, memory and inner weather.
A surreal poem of white, field, and cartoon, moving through strangeness, transformation and crossing.
A reflective poem of sea glass, loosens, and koppie, exploring change, memory and inner weather.
Poetry themes
Each stream gathers poems by mood, music, pressure, and the kind of attention the piece asks for.
Poems that walk the fault lines: grief, rupture, war, urban grit, and the mythic underbelly of the everyday. Expect charged images, stark music, and hard turns that don’t tidy the mess so much as name it.
Editor’s picks and special spotlights: the poems, sequences, and craft notes we think deserve your front-row gaze. Rotating highlights, seasonal themes, and one-off gems that show the range of our community.
Poems grouped by this theme.
Where verse meets melody. Poems arranged as songs, chants, and soundscapes—complete with audio players, lyric sheets, and credits for collaborators. Expect live takes, studio mixes, and experiments that let the poem sing in new registers.
Field notes of the inner and outer world: weather, seasons, land, and the quiet revolutions of thought. Lyrical attention, ecological awareness, and a contemplative pace define this stream.
Wit with teeth. Irony, parody, and mischief aimed at power, pretence, and the status quo. Formal play and punchy line breaks welcome; the laugh should leave a bruise.
Work of resilience and renewal: poems about survival, kinship, faith (in any form), and the long arc of becoming. Clear cadence, steady light, and endings that open rather than preach.
Dream-logic, fabulism, and mythic visitations. Reality bends, symbols speak, and images carry more than one meaning. The goal is wonder and unease in equal measure.
Poetry in isiZulu, alongside careful translations where offered. A home for imagery, izibongo (praise poetry), and contemporary voices that carry rhythm and story. Submissions may appear bilingual to welcome wider readers.
65 entries across poetry.
23 entries across poetry.
1 entries across poetry.
1 entries across poetry.
2 entries across poetry.
1 entries across poetry.
Poetry began here as play with words, fragments, and unlikely connections. Over time it became a record of feeling, then a way of making sense without forcing neat explanations too early.
Some pieces are more instinctive. Some are more controlled. None of them are interested in pretending the human experience arrives tidy.
These poems are not written to hand over a single fixed meaning. They are written to hold image, pressure, contradiction, and the parts of experience that resist summary.
Read them slowly or read them in a rush. Read them in sequence if you want to notice how the voice shifts over time. Read them out of order if you want the cleaner shock of recognition.
If a poem leaves you with a clearer feeling rather than a cleaner answer, it has done its job.
Some poems also live in voice.
Where a spoken version exists, it should feel like an extension of the page rather than a separate performance layer. The voice is there to carry the pressure of the line, not distract from it.
Collections gather poems by atmosphere, season, pressure, or recurring thread.
Enter a collection when you want a more sustained mood than the main archive offers, or when you want to stay with a particular register a little longer.