The Courage Issue

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issn: 2224-137X EDITED BY ZAMANTUNGWA. PHOTOS & COVER ART BY ZAMANTUNGWA.

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BY

ZAMANTUNGWA

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Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear. ~ Mark Twain ~

editorial courage by zamantungwa.................................................5 featured poem in times of distress by keletso thobega............................8 poetry father by morula wa kutukgolo.......................................12 courage by letlhogonolo mashego.................................13 matador by carol ronaldson............................................14 she is courage by ayabulela tutuse................................16 courage knows fear by lwazi prolific...............................18 courage = (emc)2 by m jay mutle..................................19 I walked by gavintonks....................................................20 who am I by miriam dube................................................21 untitled #31 by zamantungwa.......................................23 the prizes amabutho mixtape..........................................................24 flying about the sky.........................................................25 contributors.................................................................................26 submission guidelines.................................................................27

contents

courage 6

zamantungwa courage That human quality we all want. It is sometimes, at the wrong times, illusive.

Courageous men and women are the reason that we witness greatness all over the world. Imagine where we would be if people like Nina Simone or Maya Angelou or Steve Biko or Wangai Mathaai didn’t have courage.

Think about your own acts of courage. I know for a fact that I often don’t recognise my own courage. I see the fear everywhere all the time. And because too often I let it consume me I don’t realise that I too have courage.

Think about what it takes to step out into this scary beautiful world. What it takes for you to put pen to paper. Then when you are done, even when you aren’t so sure about the quality, you submit your work for publication.

Think about what it takes for performers everywhere to get up on stage and perform their work. Rejection always seems more likely to happen than acceptance. So some times, some people never share their work. They never speak up in a group and voice their opinions. Some never even step out of their rooms, they become prisoners of their fears.

So instead of going on about fears, I want to celebrate courage. I want to use this year to recognise that every time I focus on my goals on the things I love, I am practicing courage. This way the things that I fear become smaller and fewer. I am about courage.

You can practice courage too. We are mastering our fears everyday. When we face our fears we gain confidence in our own abilities. Every time we

editorial

“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow.” ~ Mary Anne Radmacher ~

practice courage we learn that we more capable than we give ourselves credit for.

In this issue, I’m excited about

the poets appearing here for the first time. I was really impressed with all the poems that came through but felt particularly moved by the poems that appear here.

For the first time I decided to find something awesome to share with the featured poet. The featured poet, Keletso Thobego, is going to receive a copy of Amabutho Mixtape , a courageous project that I was part of a few years back and a copy of Lebo Mashile’s Flying Above the Sky.

I hope that you enjoy this issue. poetrypotion.om is a labour of love, from my hear to yours...

- peace ~ za ~

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in times of distress 8

keletso thobega In times of distress Plagued by the insanity of unrest The days of darkness when light seems a dream Thrust in corners of uncertainty The hole in my heart getting bigger Gripped by the claws of fear and pain All outlets closed from me My soul blooms like a flower in the sun Opening wide to the warmth of trust Rest if I might But yet I know The battle continues to see some better days to come My strength is my persistence Standing against my convictions Warped by the devil’s calling I quicken past to a place of positivism I was born naked Assured nothing Relying on hope in bleakness Murmuring gratitude on the days I woke to hear the birds chirping With every step I take With every turn I make

featured poem

I know I am because of courage The times when I forged forth On the last reserve of strength When I stood by my truth Facing forceful opposition Acting in honesty, even where danger lurked Therein in Courage My soul opened And I knew there was a light of God within To build me of something intangibly strong The ability to yes when everything and everyone seemed to say No The heart of the enlightened lives in courage For today’s struggle is tomorrow’s joy…

9 Keletso Thobega receives a copy of

Amabutho Mixtape and Lebo Mashile’s Flying Above the Sky

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poetry

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father 12

morula wa kutukgolo Take over my fears, Take over my frustrations.

Demolish every dreadful thought, The devil delights in me thinking.

With your word, Rebuild my mind And reinforce it With the powerful blood of Christ Jesus.

courage letlhogonolo mashego Engage me with the power that lacks fear, here I am torn apart by the presence of fear.

Hear this cry, my eyes are gazing upon the sky.

The sky is blue yet I feel glued to the glory that awaits me but my goals and objectives are so big if not huge me.

Judge me not based on the torn and tarnished garments I wear, because every gold stone need to be tested in fire.

Therefore, accept me as a processed stone.

Be not possessed in great victory of my shabbiness, for this courage I asked for in the first line is in me, Its just that I didn’t know it when I said that, but now that I know it, let me explain it to you that you may know it intimately.

It is dressed up in a sparkled glossy garment, it is stronger than procrastination for its twinkles a melody that keeps one going for more and more.

It is sharper than fear since its sword is as red as the sun yet it is oozing sparkling water of hope from its two edges.

Its patience is slow to anger for it is always hungry for success.

I confess that, by grace, this thing known to man as courage, had it not been in me, I would not be where I am today without it, I am thankful that it made me who I am because of the great I AM that I am in his image.

This courage comes from nowhere else in me but from my inventor who created man and everything by giving courage to the words he spoke when creation began.

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matador 14

carol ronaldson Woman you stand in hot wind the Karoo spits out, and wave your red flag as the sun strips the humanity from your dreams your heart the hopes that you guard as you face down cars trucks buses unseeing faces that at the delay, grumble mutter frown, in their cocoons of air conditioned apathy not knowing the courage it takes, for you to wake up everyday, to

leave your bed leave your house leave your child leave your pride, to stand and wave your red flag knowing that not much will change; that this is your life.

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she is courage 16

ayabulela tutuse There lies the port, As acoustic strings play her favourite jazz melody But yet, she dances to her own pulse For she has found the power, To let go of the familiar To spread her wings, And soar the jealous skies in the contra direction Start an expedition, On the road not taken Blessed is she with strong shoes Her feet stubbornly firm on this journey Saying I will not turn For valor is her gift And she makes a virtue of necessity Humbled by her triumphs celebrated silently And unlike prisoned souls, Chanting renaissances about freedom She knows her musical prodigy, ‘Beat the bushes, leave no stone unturned’ For what we seek we shall find; What we flee from flees from us ‘And I plan to drink life to the lees’ O but she is fortunate Her heart has the same dream as her mind Mind conceive Heart believe

Flesh achieve Soul keep the unkempt pure of evil against this dream For time for other methods of self-preservation have no room She has not two eternities and a half The vessels have long puffed her sails Twilight awaits no more And soon every being shall wonder, Who is she, with a heroic heart?

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courage knows fear (please read from the bottom up)

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lwazi prolific Just it’s not limited by it Courage knows fear And cooked in waters of wisdom…

Planted in sacrifice crushed Feeding her young - maze Poverty & with the marrow in her While a mother braves From cowardly trigger-fingers Guns blaze In the troubled noise.

Defining harmony A muted voice, Courage is a choice Which do You take?

Path chosen OR Path open In the aftermath?

What new level will we even out All fortresses of worth shake - When the earth-quakes Acres of down-to-earth living.

Sky-scrapers decaying where ants continue building Or a stamped prescription?

Is free-will given a pen & page When awaiting change That science is flawed by when calculating?

Strong stand with a survival skill Down it’s meal through the wind - Brave a hill to bring How does an ant Courage knows fear

courage= (emc)2 m jay mutle Heart beat Drumming my ears shut Chest bursting Of fear filled noise Clouding my nose. Burning dry my mouth closed Forced to swallow dry Hot saliva, Drying my well of liquid - I thirst.

Palms sweating and my hands resisting to unclench the Muted screams inside - Silenced outside by fear – I blink Hands unclenching while eye lashes shutter open and close Toes uncurling me into action – One Step Back Two Steps…………………..Forward The next/ Adrenalin punching me further/ Heated by fury/ My feet steaming to align my spine to confront!

Ravaging leopard leaps – I ATTACK COURAGE!

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I walked 20

gavintonks I walked I walked in the dark, on an African plain, The moon and stars, they stared, from the blue black, blanket pinned across the sky.

I stumbled against the rock strewn landscape, while Khoi ancestors sang their shaman songs into the wind.

Lonely and lost you looked for me – I am not there.

My sons and daughters dance, their dizzy song, on my dusty face like ants.

I cry dry tears, of dust, for their little dry bodies, beating – out the rhythm of their spent lives.

You! Chant deep into the night, exhausted, to wait a new day – hoping to see my signs, if you have been there.

The Lion and the leopard, I sent to steal your souls, they swallowed you as you danced into the sky.

Still you did not, find me there.

Little children of this sand, wandering against the African midnight sky, take my soul, to meet the Lion, maybe then to know - If you are not there.

Little children of this sand, wandering against the African midnight sky, take my soul, to meet this Lion - maybe then to know, if you are not there?

Children of Africa hear your song, on the distant growling of the wind.

The Lion’s hot breath blew against my face, from between sharp, white, teeth like clouds. The blood red mouth, open, while the beast in purposeful travel moved.

The sun above the horizon stood - a new awakening to find me not there.

I looked for you, by the light of the worshipped moon.

I know that somewhere you are there, African sky, my sad and melancholy friend Did you, so old know more than me?

Oh! faithful cosmic vision, where you there?

At the beginning, did you see him then?

Do you know more about the end?

I walked home in the cold light of an African day.

who am I miriam dube WHAT OR WHO I AM Who am I? Am I acquainted with myself?

Do I identify with myself?

Am I able to construe myself?

OR, Do I succumb to what people say I am?

Do I except my destiny to be defined by others Or, do I decide what it should be Am I the only one who does not see the need to be a groupie?

Or, am I daring to be different Who am I? Am I crazy to stop worrying about my dilemmas?

Or, am I choosing to focus on the positives of life’s hurdles Why don’t I easily get to sway with the crowd?

Because my mission in life is clear Who am I? I am the daughter of those who dared to be different I inherited the genes of the valiant Smarts Dube and the insightful Lucy Dube I am a reproduction of failures enemy I am what I am because I was made and chose to become who I am Shame me, defeat me, hate me, but you can never delete me I concur with what my destiny should be I concur with what I ought to be one day I concur with all the blessing that will be spread all over me Because? I know who I am I am what I am and I am who I am Compliments to a courages clan And you?

Do you know – what or who you are!!!

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untitled #31 22

zamantungwaยง I used to piece words In a rhythm that moved hearts My pen kissed the page tenderly And Words would flow To Fuel struggles of woman power, black consciousness and love And so armed with my book Blk and blue with inspired rhetoric My words would rain claim the ears meant to hear, hearts would pound Free spirits fly high Carried by my words.

Then, For months loose words got caught in my head to them all doors closed.

I attempted with some glue To piece the words together struggled to unleash the dance But the page remained spotless No stain No rain No page No reign No stage Words were trapped inside me Kept away from my people They were trapped by me Not able to connect with Myself

They remained inside me Till I turned to Where things that changed Remained the same Where the movement moves and stays in one place and for some the struggle continues.

I returned to Where Zwesh still chants and poetry is still Flo Nomkhubulwane still roars and Supreme is melody Where Myesha’s still purrs on the mic Reminding me that love is real The triple K rages blk and Kabelo’s still hungry And there, in the midst of all the poets There are still wannabes…

The mic is still open Inviting the real and fake alike The revolution is televised And the poet chases celebrity-dom The scene is dying leaving a Stench of copycats, Pseudonyms for pseudo-poets pushing pseudo-Afrikanism I have returned to ashes hoping The phoenix will rise again Believing some change gon’ come As phases pass The face will be restored Cos the real are still out there As I revive a cliché just to say Poetry you the love of my life Forsake me not for I am poetry!

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amabutho 24

This mixtape was produced and released in 2006. It was a product of the R.I.S.E Mzansi, a Hip Hop Empowerment program for young South Afrikan artists.

The Cd features Zubz, Nomkhubulwane, Robo the Technician, Obita, Blak Child, Zamantungwa, Militia, Yoliswa Mogale, Zeroid Express, Skwalid Legion, Blazin Speat, Mothofela

the prizes

flying about the sky

This is the second collection of Lebo Mashile’s poetry. The first one being Ribbon of Rhythm. It was self-published in 2008.

She calls this “a far more personal collection than the first [Ribbon of Rhythm”. it includes poems such as I want to be Touched, A Hole Called Depression, and What tomorrow Looks like.

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M Jay Mutle I’ve been writing for about 8 years now. For me writing is simply captured in Steve Biko’s phrase “I write what I like”.

Gavin Tonks Artist, animator and author, mentor for small business.

Lwazi Prolific I began writing in 1995, crazed by hip-hop. This began as something I wanted to prove to myself that I could do. As experience would have it, I become exposed to more than the romantic side of writing with my environment changing. As such I’ve grown to writing in a signature of my own. I write my poems from the bottom of a page (from left to right) going upwards...to reach a new point of enlightenment.

Miriam Dube My name is Miriam Dube and I am 28 years old and working as Human Resource Practitioner and I am an aspiring writer. I recently completed my first book that covers self motivation and the challenges that teenage and young women face but not yet published. I come from Upington in the Northern Cape. I always had a passion for writting and literature and I am aspiring to go into teachning one day.

contributors

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• submit your best work

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