We are all living in the past.
Poems selected by Alex Gwaze (Curator)
There are so many people talking about living in the moment because they fear missing out and fear being judged by the choices that they have made. But to ignore yesterday is like cutting off a working limb. You can’t outrun the past. It shapes and influences what we do today and tomorrow. It reveals itself through karma. However, if we don’t want our regrets, mistakes, and trauma to own us, we must set aside time for reflection. Remember, time is not a straight line. Everything is connected. It’s only our stubbornness that makes our illusions persist.
In The Colour Black
BY ETEE MUKS
Microbiologist with a passion for words
I would love it in the colour black,
Hold no candle before me,
Let darkness engulf me whole,
Like marble – so it shines in the night.
Let no singing be heard,
For I have never been one for a melody.
There’s something about this blackness,
It summons my spirit like a siren’s serenade,
So soothing to my soul like a lovers touch,
It’s lifelessness brings peace to my mind.
Bring me the colour black!
There’s freedom in this nothingness,
Let no stone be erected above my head,
Let my memory fade with the passing moons,
For in my lifetime, in your yesterdays, I held no significance.
The Sun Cries too, I’m sure
BY ARIES RAGE
Writer, Poet and South African Print Author’s Poetry Award (APAPA) Best Female Author winner, who has published 8 books.
I bet she doesn’t
want to get up in the morning.
Who wants to see shrivelled up sunflowers
and dead waterfalls?
I would’nt want to wake up either.
Would you want to?
Remember unfulfilled promises?
Repeated lies said yesterday?
I’m sure the Sun cries too.
Who would’nt when
the sky is filled with rain,
Rain fuelled by toxic fumes.
Joy from someone hurting.
The Sun shines on it all.
I would cry too if I was her,
golden droplets
Rays of blistering light.
But you’ll never know they are tears.
You’ll just think it’s sweat on your neck, back and brow.
Exiled!
BY KHANA MOYO -THE MAD POET
Bulawayo Arts Awards nominee, Intwasa Poetry Slam finalist, Larfage Slam finalist, and Bulawayo Slam Literature festival finalist
I once belonged to a settled order,
Of holy processions and solemn hymns,
Moving around detached as one
With a visa for heaven.
Then my world cracked in the middle
And exposed me as a turncoat,
An apostate!
A Paul turned Saul!
Who bought his salvation by selling his race, pride and stones.
I escaped through a Judas Window
And made it home
But the new Africa, hollow to the core,
Did not feel like yesterday!
Even it’s new kings and queens – its poverty is perverted.
Statistically enhanced to secure funding,
Down to share mass produced art
That echoes and fades
With the winds of commerce!
I chose to live in a spiritual wilderness,
Empty, exiled!
Without an identity,
Rejecting any kind of belief
Perhaps, it’s better to believe nothing,
Than to be torn apart over double allegiance,
I cannot be both Roman and African!
I Feel In Need
BY CEBO NCUBE
Model, Poet, Creative, USA World Championships of Performance Arts qualifier
I find myself wanting
Needing every single pleasure
I denied myself
Every ray of sunshine
Failed to make it into the depths,
Darkness!
I feel in need
All the pretty petals
Thorns beside bush rose,
Quiet scents.
Break me of a taste
Sweetness turned nectar to honey
Water to wine
Transformation.
I long for the good
Denied by this darkness
My youth wasted.
Spilling streaming silent prayers
Screaming!!
A wimper turned whisper.
I crave all that I could have had
All the time that was lost
The innocence I feared
Lost
Betrayed by the darkness my shadow casts.
Release me father!
I fear what is broken
Will never be left out to bask
In the glorious grace of yesterday’s sunlight.