A living archive, place for poems that breathe, bruise, stutter, and bloom.
Each month, a small panel of poets and listeners reads with care. We’re not hunting for cleverness or perfection. We’re listening for truth. For the line that trembles because it had to be written. For language that carries a pulse.
From these readings, we select up to ten pieces that speak honestly to this moment in time. Poems that hold lived experience. Poems that risk being real. This is not a space for performance alone. It is a space for presence.
For the unsaid finally being said. For the quiet courage of naming things as they are.
Poets and spoken word artists from anywhere on the African continent are invited to submit their work. Written or recorded. Refined or rough. What matters is authenticity. If the work is true to you, it belongs here.
At this stage, we are not yet able to pay contributors. We name this openly. We are actively working toward growing Poetry Korna into a sustainable, paid platform that honours poets for the weight, labour, and beauty of their words.
Poetry Korna is a meeting point of stories, accents, languages, silences. A space where art listens before it speaks.
A home for those who write not to impress, but to remember.
Living Beyond the Mental Battles We Fight – February 2026
In January, we began by slowing down. By choosing ourselves on purpose. By listening inward. February continues that movement, turning toward what we find when we sit with ourselves long enough to notice the quiet struggles beneath the surface.
“Living beyond the mental battles we fight” is not about defeating ourselves. It is about understanding. It is about learning to respond to our thoughts with patience rather than panic. About growth that happens in small, steady ways. About choosing healing not as a destination, but as a practice.
For this edition, we are looking for poems that reflect resilience, self-compassion, emotional awareness, and the courage to evolve. Work that honours the process of becoming. Poems may be reflective or bold, gentle or direct. What matters is honesty and presence. We are listening for language that carries care, clarity, and hope.
Submit your poem of no longer that 15 lines through: https://forms.gle/eSzMiMZPaGVwZozP9
Intentionality & Knowledge of Self – January 2026
January’s edition of Poetry Korna, Intentionality and the Knowledge of Self, brings together ten voices rooted in presence, awareness, and lived truth. These poems reflect the quiet work of choosing oneself on purpose, of moving through the world with attentiveness rather than urgency, and of staying grounded in personal knowing.
From Stormi’s vivid portrait of home and survival in The Slum, to Nema’s reclamation of language and identity in Jariah’s Daughter, the work carries the power of self-discovery. Barrie’s Young, dumb, broke, with ambition meets life with fierce hunger and hope, while Samuella’s Crushed, yet my year and Martin Ngebe’s I am the sun trace resilience through inner struggle and renewal.
Also featured are Taurus, whose poem charts the transformative journey toward becoming a poet; Liz D’s Woe is me, a reflection on longing and loss; Rachel’s meditation on love’s soft ending; and AJ The Poet’s If we were all modest, a gentle inquiry into humility and grace. Silver Secret joins this chorus with a voice that deepens the edition’s turn toward self-knowledge and intentional living. Each piece inhabits intentionality in its own language, direct, tender, raw, and honest, forming a chorus of depth and self-knowing in this first edition of Poetry Korna.
Inkundla Spaces 