featured poem: Hymns of Tatane by Reitumetse

Time has never lied,
Its prophetic hands are like nightmares
into charlatan’s dream,
It hawks our true intentions
through the shadow of history,
In seeming-less rapture, numbing us to
ephemeral realities, where we cuddle with the wind
of a brewing storm

Time has never lied,
Neither has it gone astray from just-ness,
Or to shun the folly of kings,
In pure reverberation of Mohammed Bouazizi,
Andries Tatane, Solomon Mahlangu, Steve Biko and many more,
Time rests its allegiance in their ghostly utterances,
That Truth is the only reality,

Now its wind flows in Ficksburg, Tunisia, Sudan and Libya
Breathing the resented air of the living dead
Reminding of freedoms undelivered,
How in the hell,
did we think that time will not catch up with us.

Reitumetse Johnson is an activist and development worker for an organisation called Azali Nuru. He has worked with Centre for the book on poetry and literary workshops for learners in Atteridgeville. His appreciation for poetry is an epic love affair with ups and downs. However, Mr Johnson is simply a lover of words.