• eSwatini issue,  Nonfiction

    Friends Who Just Met

    “We are each other’s harvest. We are each other’s business. We are each other’s magnitude and bond”                          -From “Paul Robeson” by Gwendolyn Brooks   From the beginning, everything seemed so familiar. Joanne and I had arrived at the theater early Monday morning to meet with local poets who had signed up for this two-day workshop. Joanne was the highly-touted teacher from the far-away United States, and the Eswatini poets came expecting to receive from this prolific scholar furious flower-like nuggets that would enhance their craft. Except for a janitor and a couple of poets who were in the theater when we arrived, the building was desolate. Within half an…