Best Soweto Poems

(special thanks to a friend who shared this tribute to Solomon Mahlangu)



Solomon Mahlangu: My Blood will Nourish the Tree that will Bear the Fruits of...

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Identity Apples

iam a fat skeleton, resurrecting 
from the sad memories of dada 
and dark mysteries of aminism 
iam buganda 
i bleed hope 
i drip the...

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the rainbow is out now, 
I saw it this morning on my way to school

the rainbow our heroes of old died fighting for
  ...

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[This is an advanced version of a poem
that I wrote on the 5th of February 
2008,
titled "The 15th of June" in
commemoration to my late 
Grandmother,
Jane...

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Aluta continua
Was that word another message replaced
And the room spun dark as web
The tree no longer walks the night
The bush is silent on the veld
Madiba...

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The Blood of Youth 

16 June
sad tune
visible blood
visible flood
our beloved were killed
we need to be healed
an oppression
discrimination
the Soweto uprising
the Soweto protesting
so sad
so bad
when pain was...

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Hey!
are 
you 
a 
Zulu? 
Am 
a 
Bushman...no 
you 
are 
a 
Bantu,a 
Bantu 
or 
Hottentots? 
Maybe 
an 
Afrikaner.        ...

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A Comrade like Ben

A statesman like Mandela diplomatically
suspended the necessary struggle of opposites,
gummed his fragmented land together with reconciliation….
exploiters to exploited , murderers to martyrs
imperialist...

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From the “jungles” of Soweto 
To the “lakes” of Kalahari 
Come! 
Let us adopt grey children 
Call them Mogadishu or Benghazi. 
Donate your second hand...

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Hey blokes…do you really know what life is…?
Like living in the ghetto…any memories of Soweto…?
Maybe you can’t…make me a chant…
Yes…I know…because I grow…
In the streets…where...

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Let me play you violin 
I hope you will dance 
Don't mind how to begin
Till you loose all steps into trance 
And wonder if you've...

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Children of Xenophobia

Children eating bullets and firecrackers 
Beggars of smile and laughter 
Silent corpses sleeping away fertile dreams 
Povo* chanting new nude wretched slogans 
Overstayed...

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Used to be a happy go around…later shrouded in frowns…?
For many a birth places…what are the shades of their faces…?
A log of many a cases…where...

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Storm rages brimestones   from ages to ages.
    The earth quakes from its foundation,flakes of hell erupts from the depths beneath.
...

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How long shall we try to convince her to see the truth?
How long would she pretend, when the truth sits in-between her breast cursed?
Deception and...

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