‘n Glimlag voel soos ‘n leeftyd gelede;

Lag-plooie lê diep begrawe onder verlore herinneringe

En loop nou langs traan-padjies.

Wat het van die drome geword?

Waar word die beloftes nou gekoester?

Hierdie hande wat nou alewig bewe,

Oë wat nie meer die son soek nie –

Dis ‘n ja-en-amen storie wat jare geskryf was.

Die toekoms loer tussen die krake deur,

Maar al wat weerkaats is ‘n skaduwee van vergete verledes. 

Flow Wellington is a gender-queer author and publisher living in Johannesburg. She is the founding director of Poetree Publications, an independent self-publishing house. Flow is the author of two poetry collections: The Undelivered Score (2011) and Gau-Trained (2018); and publishing editor of international anthologies Uni-Verse-Al (2012) and The Looking Glass Anthology. She is the recipient of a 2019 AfriCAN Authors Award for poetry, and also a long-listed author for the 2018 & 2019 Sol Plaatje Poetry Award. Flow also co-curated the Eastern Cape Book Festival 2014-2015.

Social media: 

Facebook: @officialflowwellington / @poetreepub

IG: @the_poetree / @flow.nicorn

Experience writing on Loss

I have a firm belief that writers are the custodians of history and that it is our calling to document the truths of our time. Writing about this topic (Loss) is an incredible task, but a necessary one, in light of the era we live in. Loss is defined in so many ways and people experience it in their own ways, but there is a collective loss we feel as women when dealing with GBV, Femicide and losing self. Having experienced various accounts of abuse and violence throughout my life – from childhood into adulthood – I know first-hand about the crippling effects any kind of loss has on a person. Writing through the memories, the emotions, the victory is cathartic in its own way. Though one cannot really measure if and when any sort of trauma is actually shaken off or entirely overcome, you can reflect on your journey and grow stronger from it. 

Why I write?

Writing is a calling for me. I’ve been writing since the age of 12 (1996) and have since come to understand how that connects with my ancestral calling. It is important, especially as a gender-queer person of colour to write candidly, unapologetically. I believe that my writing will serve as a reference to coming generations about this era, and act as a guide into the future.

My literary influences and inspirations span over a vast range, but to mention a few: Bessie Head, Nadine Gordimer, Toni Morrison, Sylvia Vollenhoven, Cornelia Fick and Diana Ferrus – these are the “veterans” I look up to. There are countless younger women writers but just too many to name, lol. 

Artist’s Repertoire
Flow Wellington began writing in 1996 at the age of 12 and has since been published locally and internationally through a number of mediums including Badilisha Poetry X-Change, Poetry Potion, Poetry Institute of Africa, Atlanta Review, and anthologies such as South Africa’s first jazz anthology To Breathe into Another Voice, AKE Review, and many more. She spent a few years as part of the Eastern Cape label, TruSight Music (2008-2009) which won Hype Magazine’s Best Mixtape Award 2009. Performances include Grahamstown and Northern Arts Festivals, Joburg Theatre, The Orbit Jazz Club, various book festivals around South Africa.

To date, her company has published 23 book titles for local and international writers.