I will sometimes have a theme running through the different phases of my life, and that theme will be connected or inspired by a particular author’s work. Wendell Berry, for instance, began my semester and ushered in moments of reflection, gratitude, and a quiet presence. I immersed myself in his essays and poems whenever I […]
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Coming Home to Self
Home means different things to people. As a concept and definition, it interests me to no end, and some of my most animated conversations, no doubt, have been about the idea or place of home. I have written extensively about it in both my poetry and creative nonfiction, and I continue to delight in discovering […]
Shuddering Expansion/Where home is
When love ends, It becomes a memory. If it abides, It never ends. My unending/abiding inquiry into the complex understanding of home, interwoven with love, is now housed in Asymptote’s July issue. It includes an audio version of the hybrid essay, Shuddering Expansion/Where home is, read by yours, truly. If you’re curious about […]
On Liberty, Freedom and Independence
I was an undergraduate at Makerere University, Kampala, when I first heard these words of Patrick Henry, “Give me liberty or give me death,” in a song by Carman, one of the funky gospel singers I loved to listen and dance to. That same tape had Larry Norman’s, “Why should the devil have all the […]
Sylt Postcard: On light, summer solstice and strawberry moon
The longest day elsewhere never really felt like the longest day until my stay in Northern Germany, the island of Sylt where I am a writer-in-residence of the Sylt Foundation. And it’s not just the summer solstice but summer in general. When nights come, usually after 10pm, the presence of white light hours later […]
Is Creation Ever Done? Coleridge and our own handiwork
Is creation ever finished? says Dorothy in regard to Kubla Khan, Coleridge’s Vision in a Dream poem. This question emerges at a most critical hour in the movie, Pandaemonium, when Coleridge is doubting his creative ability and needs validation/assurance to uplift his confidence. Dorothy, sister to William Wordsworth, fondly admires the imaginative life and works of Samuel […]
Form, Space and Mindfulness
I did not realize how spacious my head had become until my one-month stay in Uganda ended and I returned to Asheville for work. I was feeling full and had symptoms of a cold that made my head fuller. One leg of the journey, from Qatar to Philadelphia airport was 13 hours and 46 minutes […]
In Praise of Shitholes
Consider the shithole: It does not envy the hand for being the hand, it does not envy the feet for their gift of movement, it does not strike against other body parts, but in humility and pride carries on its duty without complaint, aiding bodily functions, enabling the health of the body as a whole. […]
Sacred Delight or Eating Husbands
I’m at home past lunch hour. The adults are fed, the children are watching TV in the sitting room. I have a moment to myself, so I decide to sit outside and enjoy the warmth of the sun. I see a praying mantis resting on the fender of the car, then another joins. This is […]
End of the semester, near end of year and the many endings of things, which also imply beginnings and the substance of gathering.
Let me start from the middle. It was in San Francisco in July this year that I experienced life profoundly during a visit to the Minnesota Street Project, housed in three warehouses in Dogpatch district. The warehouses themselves, while they looked newly refurbished, still “betrayed” an air of abandonment from their previous lives. There was […]
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MKB: Dear Nyakisa, Good news! "The Animals of My Earth...
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Nyakisa Beth: Will it be available in Uganda?...
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Wm Epes: Dr. Barya: Hope you are well. Enj...
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