Still, I Opened
by Anele N Malgas
What happens when a heart chooses to remain open, even after it has learned how much love can hurt?
This is a collection of poems that were written during the quiet moments of clarity, some of these were written during moments of uncertainty. These manifested over different periods of time, where the manifestation of love, recognition and healing took place, in the moments where I finally allowed myself to sit with feelings, I didn’t always have the words for.
- In trying to understand the whirlwind of emotions when it came to love — I came to learn that loving can be beautiful and loving yourself can be just as liberating. In the journey of this collection, I learned to sit with myself a little more than I used to— to feel a little more than I used to.
I had to search deeply and leave myself bare enough to be open. But in these poems of shifting from different emotions of love, sensual, heartbreak — they carry something honest, and that’s healing. I didn’t write these poems to interpret anything perfect; I wrote them to feel what I couldn’t always say out loud.
If you find parts of yourself in these pages, then maybe that’s enough.
And still, I Opened.
About the Author
Anele Malgas is a South African poet and emerging writer whose work explores love, vulnerability, heartbreak, desire, and healing. Her writing is drawn to the emotions that often remain unspoken—the moments that linger long after they have passed and the feelings we struggle to fully understand. Her debut poetry collection, Still, I Opened, is an intimate exploration of love, sensuality, heartbreak, and self-discovery. Through her work, Anele creates space for readers to sit with their emotions, recognise pieces of themselves, and find meaning in what is often left unsaid.
