Editor’s Note
Dear Reader,
It is with great pleasure that we present to you issue two of Non.Plus Lit. This issue comprises 11 striking poems that delicately reflect on what it means to exist and feel in many forms and perhaps what it means to exist and feel in this current reality. To all who submitted, thank you for trusting us with your words. It was a beautiful experience catching glimpses of who you all are and that is a privilege we do not take lightly.
This issue opens with Conyer Clayton’s poem Google Doc of Death that explores and meticulously encapsulates anxieties and preoccupations surrounding life and death. The speaker gently takes you by the hand and into their world, leading with “I created the shared Google Doc of Death tonight, a random weekday evening” and all of a sudden you are standing there by a river and you can feel when “the wind just teases”.
Somewhere along your journey through this issue, you will come across a ship at sea, dip your toes in the ocean as you listen to (and read!) Siren Song by Claire Rabkin. This poem captivates you with its vivid imagery and haunting chants “Shame — on an angel, I will let you cry into my mouth — on an angel for coming here and stealing all of the love in the world.” Enchanted, let the hypnotizing Siren Song nestle in your ear and drag you deeper into the unknown.
At the end of your journey you will find Dipe Jola’s The Bullet and the Virus—and let me say, we all have desperately needed these words to find our own, now more than ever. An offering to those we have lost to police brutality in Africa and beyond- Dipe Jola’s words echo loudly in your mind with delicate intentionality; as we close, we hope for all who have fallen at the hands of the police to “Lay peacefully away from the unrest of the world”.
Finally thank you- to our incredible Editorial Team and Readers for the care with which you handled the submissions, our Contributors without whom this issue would not be possible and to you, dear Reader, for choosing to go on this journey with us!
-Thokozani