We don’t always have to be violent
We don’t have to shout or scream to get our messages across
We don’t have to have hard-hitting punchlines
Sometimes we can deliver lifelines
We are not always war and scars and caving chests, and death and petrol bombs
Sometimes we are just in love
We are soft and gentle in delivery and tone
We are healed enough to sit with love and be content
We are okay
We are not always angry, so our poetry doesn’t have to be
Sometimes we are just bodies of settling and not of departure
We are homes and not journeys to the unknown
Poetry is not always a war zone, and we are not always gathering bodies
Sometimes she’s a garden gathering fallen petals
Sometimes she’s a letter of healing reaching a soldier in need of strength
Sometimes poetry is you looking back at me, wondering if I can see you, or hear how fast your heart is beating
Patience Labane is a University of the Free graduate, she obtained her degree in Humanities
and Societal Dynamics. Sis a CSP Free State Slam champ (2018) a Vryfees slam champ
(2019) and a Poetry Africa finalist (2021-2022).2020 saw Patience release her podcast ‘Her
Thoughts’ which can be found on Spotify. She’s been to Malawi to attend the Tumaini festival at
the Dzaleka refugee.
Patience was also a project manager on the amazing documentary on Nthabiseng ‘JahRose’
Jafta which can be watched on the National Arts Festival website. She has been part of two
documentaries ‘Where the Poets Are’, as well as the ‘Eclectic Wordsmiths’.She was nominated
by the Central Music awards under the category ‘Best female poet of the year 2022’. She has
also received an award from the Radioactive Blog for The most improved poet of the year.Her
piece on the experiences of being Black and female was accepted for publication in a book
project by Howard University entitled ‘African Women in Digital Spaces: Redefining Social
Movements on the Continent and in the Diaspora to the publisher’, Mkuki na Nyota (MnP)
Publishers which will be distributed in schools across the United States. In 2022, her work
featured in the Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Anthology, the Toyin Falola short story
Anthology, and the Poetic Blues anthology poetry anthology.
Patience is also part of the Young African Leaders Initiative network and Alumni- She
graduated in the Public Management and Governance track Cohort 20. Patience also received
training in International Advocacy, Security management and Digital security from the Human
Rights organization called DefendDefenders in Uganda. The training took place in Rosebank,
Johannesburg 2022-2023. She has recently started a reading initiative called ‘Ha re Baleng’
under her organization (Lets Eat Art) which targets the Social Development Goal of Quality
Education (SDG4) in relation to public schools in rural settlements. The idea is to challenge the
absence of a policy that should ensure that every state school in South Africa should have
access to a fully stocked library. In this regard, she has managed to identify a few schools in the
rural area of Qwaqwa in need of books and is working with two organizations who want to help
with books and a library station. She has designed a digital library station prototype that is cost
effective in terms of the implementation of a library station.