Sanko Lewis (Ph.D)

Artist / Lecturer / Writer / Editor / Martial Artist / Model / Graphic Designer / Philosopher

Writing & Editing

I do freelance writing, proofreading and editing, as well as occassional translation (Afrikaans & English). Contact me to see if I can fit your project into my schedule and to get a quotation. 

With regards to creative writing, I specialise in the condensed aesthetic forms: poetry, short stories and the essay. As I am bilingual, I write in both English and Afrikaans, but I usually write poetry in Afrikaans. My poetic strength is love & semi-erotic poems. You can read a selection of these verse, mostly in Afrikaans, at my poetry blog Ingelegde Lywe. (You can listen to me reading an Afrikaans poem that I wrote for the 2016 "67 Poems for Freedom"-project here.) I also enjoy to translate poems, sometimes from Korean. You may download one of my short stories (in English) for free here

Seisoenale verdenking 

Hy weet dit is herfs
want die ginkgo biloba
sidder geel—soos verdriet; 

en hy weet dit is herfs
want die esdoornboom
skud bloed van haar hande af. 

Dit is herfs, en hy weet dit,
want sy binnegoed is bruinblare
en hy staar voëlverskrik na sy verlede. 

Dit is herfs. Ongetwyfeld is dit herfs. 
Want alles sterf tog so verskriklik mooi
nes die noodlotige son in brons en in rooi. 

Seasonal Suspicion 

He knows it is fall
for the ginko biloba
trembles yellow—like grief; 

and he knows it is fall
for the maple shakes blood
from her limbs. 

It is fall, and he knows it,
for his insides are brown leafs
and he stares like a scarecrow at his past. 

It is fall. Undeniably fall. 
Because everything dies so awfully beautiful
like the fated sun in scarlet and in bronze.