New writing

Fiction and prose by established and emerging authors. Send your poetry or fiction to New Writing at skryfwerk@litnet.co.za to be considered for publication on LitNet.

Please note that work previously published in print or on any online media platform will not be considered for selection.

I stared

Chris Taljaard 2013-12-04

"I stared
at the stark
naked
lamppost,
grim
and felt the light
begin
to dim."

Through realms of scattered verse

Chris Taljaard 2013-11-27

"Through realms of scattered verse
I lead processions in a pale hearse
of images of penultimate
rapture"

Netpoets 2.0

Rentia Bartlett-Mohl 2013-11-20 Write a poem with the theme “the internet”. Use the internet as a medium to look at how we read and write poetry in the digital age.

Birdsong

Heidi Henning 2013-11-20 "Long into the afternoon shadows
As I search through the dark pool of sounds
for the same lost call."

Sunset

Heidi Henning 2013-10-29 "The rays of light have become irresponsible
They sparkle with a slightly more subtle shine"

Hello there, kettle

Chris Taljaard 2013-10-23

"Kettle, could you forgive me
if I were to call you black?
You see, in you lies my story
reflected, burning, back"

Should this catharsis contain some portent

Chris Taljaard 2013-10-23

"Should this catharsis contain some portent,
purport or potential politick;
should it conform to some shape and indent-
ation to be poetic rhetoric?"

Loss

Heidi Henning 2013-09-18

"The heart carries loss like a soldier
Stoic, strong, continuing to function"

Wind Cathedral

Heidi Henning 2013-09-18

"This place is quiet
silence dominates the days
before sunset, a breeze begins to move the sand"

Chemotherapy

renee 2013-09-11

"Go with the flow, he says
Who says? He, he who dishes the dirt,
poison for the pores, the nerve endings, the brain"

The born-frees

Baipedi Mosebi 2013-09-03

"What worth is your bravery?
As I’m surrounded by poverty
What for was all that chivalry?
I’m a born-free, for I stand proudly jobless"

To Whom It May Concern

Celia Claase 2013-09-03

"A large life should not end ordinarily
quietly during sleep
in isolation or at the turn of a switch"

Stormy weather

Heidi Henning 2013-08-27

"The collecting of clouds, gathering grey matter
behind the blue gum trees
magnifying the bird calls
the rising humidity"

Through a haze of menthol

Wesley Roodt 2013-08-27 "Through a haze of menthol-infused
Cigarette smoke
I see his head bobbing back and forth
With the basic rhythms
Of the music in his mind"

Sol Plaatje European Union Award Poetry Award 2013

2013-08-27 Entries for the third Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Award for poetry in all 11 South African languages have reopened! Winning poems will form part of a poetry anthology that honours the spirit of Sol Plaatje, the activist, linguist and translator, novelist, journalist and leader. The deadline for submissions is now Monday 9 September 2013.

Expression is Golden

Nthabeleng Mzizi 2013-08-13 "InZync poetry sessions are a surprisingly humble space where bras and sisters come together in an intimate cipher, where rappers informally freestyle over self-created beats, a pre-game warm-up rolling together blades of spiritual enlightenment, avoiding the blue lights of the five o’s and sharing a moment while spitting lyrical lines."

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