Commission of TearsAntnio Lobo Antuness twenty fifth novel, Commission of Tears (2011, Comisso das Lgrimas) is set during the Angolan Civil War (1975 2002). Angola attained official independence on November 11, 1975 and, while the stage was set for transition, a combination of ethnic tensions and international pressures rendered Angolas hard won victory problematic. As with many post colonial states, Angola was left with both economic and social difficulties which

there was a tower on a hill

Louër traces how sectarian tensions have been inflamed or calmed depending on the political contingencies of the moment

growing up in California and the nature of good and evil in a Death Valley motel room

California and South Africa generated new modifications in the international monetary system

these lazy months in the countryside are akin to torture

Syed Hussein Alatas

a waitress in one of the cafés on the leafy town square

and Muslim in the 21st century

The poems in this chapbook reach through different timelines and realities in search of happily-ever-afters and more fantastical ways of being

Beliau bersama suaminya Ibrahim

and the writings that have informed her own poetic practice

Second Space is typically capacious in the range of voices