The Trick is to Keep Breathing

Rinos Mwanaka

Description

THE TRICK IS TO KEEP BREATHING: Covid 19 Stories From African and North American Writers, Vol 3, features 2 essays, 5 stories and 64 poems from 32 poets, writers and academicians from North America and Africa, writers residing in these among other countries; The USA, Canada, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, The Gambia, Ghana, Malawi.., surrounding the grate, telling stories of resilience and triumph as they dealt with Covid 19 and its several mutations over the past 3 years. Humans are connection beings and one of the most fulfilling ways they do so is through sharing stories. It's time we surround the fire, warming ourselves as we tell the stories of our humanness and resilience, stories of triumph, stories to release unrequited pain, anger and grief, stories of loss, stories that will act as continuing breath....

Sujets

• Collections
• Collection

Informations

• Publié par: Mwanaka Media and Publishing Pvt Ltd
• Date de parution: 13 octobre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781779243249
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

The Trick is to KeepBreathing Th Trick is to Keep Breathing

C

from 19C vid  Stories and Ameri A c f a ri n can North Writers - V OL 3 -

C URATEDANDEDITEDBY Tendai Rinos Mwanaka

THE TRICK IS TO KEEP BREATHING: Covid 19 Stories From African and North American Writers, Vol 3 Curated and edited by Tendai Rinos Mwanaka

Mwanaka Media and Publishing Pvt Ltd, Chitungwiza Zimbabwe * Creativity, Wisdom and Beauty

i

Publisher:Mmap Mwanaka Media and Publishing Pvt Ltd 24 Svosve Road, Zengeza 1 Chitungwiza Zimbabwe [e-mail] [e-mail] https://www.mmapublishing.org www.africanbookscollective.com/publishers/mwanaka-media-and-publishing https://facebook.com/MwanakaMediaAndPublishing/ Distributed in and outside N. America by African Books Collective [e-mail] www.africanbookscollective.com ISBN: 978-1-77921-330-3 EAN: 9781779213303 ©Tendai Rinos Mwanaka 2022 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical or electronic, including photocopying and recording, or be stored in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher DISCLAIMER All views expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views ofMmap.

ii

Table of Contents Introduction…………………………………………………...xv Essays and Non Fictions Staying Socially and Politically Active While Socially Distancing: Making the Issues around COVID-19 Part of One’s Activism:C. Liegh McInnis (USA)…………………………1 CORONA VIRUS LOCKDOWN JOURNALS FOR INMATE #4 567356809: Thought Tracks : Tendai Rinos Mwanaka (Zimbabwe)……………………………………………………….11 Fictions Tested[20.04.2020]:jabulani mzinyathi (Zimbabwe)………………20 Cool Boss Moe Dee:Paris Smith (USA)………………………..24 DO NOT OPEN:James Harper (USA)…………………………46 Trouble Comin’ Every Day:Michael S. Walker (USA)…………82 Withdrawn:Nick Romeo (USA)…………………………………90 Poetry A NOTE IN A TIME OF VIRUS:Karl W. Carter, Jr. (USA)…94 A TIME IN QUARANTINE:Karl W. Carter, Jr………………96 Black nights:William Khalipwina Mpina (Malawi)………………97 Spitting dreams:William Khalipwina Mpina……………………98 Black Curtain:William Khalipwina Mpina………………………99 La réouverture:Charlie R. Braxton (USA)…………………….100 EXTINCTION:Charlie R. Braxton…………………………..101 No Reason with No Rhyme: A Flow For Big Floyd:Charlie R. Braxton…………………………………………………………102

iii

We Are:Charlie R. Braxton……………………………………...103 Excerpts from the Gospel Reimagined:Charlie R. Braxton…………………………………………………………104 THE DISINTEGRATION VIRUS:CHISIMDI GEORGE (Nigeria)………………………………………………………...106 Corona Chronicles: Five Senryu:Adjei Agyei-Baah (Ghana)….108 Coronavirus and our lives:Marie Jawo (The Gambia)…………..109 COVID Consequences of Clan Governance:C. Liegh McInnis (USA)………………………………………………………….110 More Vectors: Changming Yuan (Canada)………………………112 Sonnet to the Other Side of Night:Changming Yuan…………113 At Some Future Moment:Changming Yuan…………………...114 Their Nights:Changming Yuan………………………………...115 Awaiting in 2020, the Year Which:Changming Yuan………….116 Breathe:Mohammed U. Yusuf (Nigeria)…………………………117 The Unbidden:Mohammed U. Yusuf…………………………...118 WARRING FISTS: JOY RITA EKUMBA (Kenya)……………119 MY COVID CONCEPT NOTE:JOY RITA EKUMBA…….120 Let the Green Grass Grow:Bonface Nyamweya (Kenya)…………122 Pandemic Panic:Bonface Nyamweya……………………………123 breathe…:Archie Swanson (South Africa)………………………..125 gone:Archie Swanson…………………………………………...126 Samantha : Archie Swanson……………………………………...127 The Previous President’s Mixing:Diane Raptosh (USA)……..128 Seems the Whole World is Becoming America:Diane Raptosh…………………………………………………………129 Breathe:(Kenya)………………………………….130Isaac Kilibwa Slow Dancing:Isaac Kilibwa…………………………………..131

iv

This Day This Scripture:Isaac Kilibwa………………………..132 SNOWFLAKES IN A FAMOUS TAIL:Chad Norman (Canada)………………………………………………………..133 THE MYSTERY TOSS:Chad Norman……………………….135 CONFESSIONS OF A HOMEOWNER AND THE NEW LITTERS:Chad Norman……………………………………...139 THE WILL TO SURVIVE:Roy Venketsamy (South Africa)……143 To a twig in winter:Cheryl Caesar (USA)……………………..145 Wind chimes in the time of COVID:Ken Weene (USA)…….146 Venturing Out:Ann Privateer (USA)…………………………..147 Happy Embrace:Ann Privateer……………………………….148 Stretching Boundaries:Ann Privateer…………………………149 MASKED CONCERN:Duane L Herrmann (USA)…………...150 DEATH HUG:Duane L Herrmann……………………………151 TOUCHLESS:Duane L Herrmann……………………………152 Fire Season Again: C. Christy White (USA)……………………153 Abba’s Gone:Adiela Akoo (South Africa)……………………….155 Disruptions:F.I. Goldhaber (USA)…………………………….158 Eugenics:F.I. Goldhaber………………………………………160 Blame Not the Virus:F.I. Goldhaber…………………………..162 BARREN:Dee Allen (USA)…………………………………...164 EMERGE AGAIN:Dee Allen………………………………...166 Roses from My Rose Bushes:Barbara L. Howard (USA)……..169 Life Lessons from Limbs:Barbara L. Howard………………..170 Life, what is it?:Barbara L. Howard…………………………...172 Mmap Multidisciplinary Series… …………………………174

v

Contributor’s Bio Notes Jabulani Mzinyathiis a writer. His published works are poetry collectionsUnder The Steel Yoke, Righteous Indignation, In the Steel Talons andMumambure, a chiShona novel. He is a regular contributor to Zimbolicious anthologies andBNAP volumes. Jabulani Mzinyathi reads with ‘self-punishing avidity’. He is madly in love with reggae music for it is based on truth, equal rights and among other themes. Jabulani Mzinyathi’s closets are brimming with works yet to be polished. He is an ex teacher, ex magistrate now a lawyer in private practice. He looks forward to being a full time writer. Karl W. Carter, Jr.,the author of is Southern Road and Selected Poems, awarded the 2019, IABA (International Book Award from the African American Historical and Genealogical Society) and two broadsides,A Season In SorrowandThree Poems (Broadside Press;1972). His poems appear in theAnthologies Africanization and Americanization Anthology, Vol.1 Africa v. North America, (Mwanaka Media and Publishing Pvt Ltd 2018),Freedom, Poetry ofWords of Protest, Words of the American Civil Rights Movement, (Duke University Press, 2012), Freedom In My Heart: Voices from the United States National Slavery Museum(National Geographic, 2009), Off the Record: An Anthology of Poems by Lawyers, (Legal Studies Forum, 2004), The Poet Upstairs, An Anthology of Washington Area Poets, (Washington Writers Publishin House, 1979), Synergy, D.C. Anthology, (Energy Black South Press, 1978 and Understanding the New Black Poetry, (William Morrow, 1979), Earth Institute, The Broadkill Review, Delaware Poetry Review, Journal of Hip Hop Studies, Poetry Pacific and Poet Lore. Carter stays in the Washington, D.C. region.

vi

William Khalipwina Mpinais a Malawian poet, fiction writer, Economist and Data Analyst. His writing reflects on social life and everyday experiences. Many of his works appear in online international literary magazines such asKalahari Review, Literary Shanghai, Writers Space Africa, African writer, Nthanda review etc.A co- editor of 'Walking the Battlefield'andNewsletter’ ‘Tilembe  of Malawi Union of Academic and Non-fiction Authors, Mpina has contributed poems in over ten local and international anthologies. His books includePrincess from the Moon (2020), Shattered Dreams (2019), Blood Suckers (2019), Shadows of Death and other poems (2016), Namayeni (2009) and Njiru (2003). C. Liegh McInnisis a poet, short story writer, retired instructor of English at Jackson State University, former editor/publisher ofBlack Magnolias Literary Journal, and author of eight books, including four collections of poetry, one collection of short fiction (Urban MississippiScripts: Sketches and Tales of ), one work of literary criticism (Prince: A The Lyrics of Literary Look), one co-authored work, Brother Hollis: The Sankofa of a Movement Man, which discusses the life of legendary Mississippi Civil Rights icon, and former First Runner-Up of the Amiri Baraka/Sonia Sanchez Poetry Award. Additionally, he has been published in magazines, newspapers, and anthologies. Chigozie Anariochi George, popularly known by his pen name Chisimdi Georgeis a poet and novelist. His works have appeared in literary anthologies which includes:The fifth Chinua Achebe poetry/essay anthology, the sixth Chinua Achebe poetry/essay anthology, End Sars voices an anthology of poems and essays against police brutality and battery, Anthology in honor of late professor Jerry agada, 11th woman scream

vii

international anthology,Love Nwantinti(a special valentine poetry collection)etc. He is a graduate of Alvan Ikoku college of education Owerri and currently doing his national youth services corp in Enugu State Nigeria. Adjei Agyei-Baahis a lecturer, translator, editor and currently a PhD student at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. He is the co-founder ofAfrica Haiku Network, Poetry Foundation Ghana, and The Mamba, Africa’s first international haiku journal. Adjei is a worldwide-anthologized poet and winner of several international awards. His acclaimed haiku collection,AFRIKU(Red Moon Press, 2016) has been commended by Professor Wole Soyinka, Africa’s first Nobel Prize Literature laureate. His other poetry collections areMy Fart (2018), Finding The OtherGhana, 21 Haiku (2017) Piece of Door (2021) and Mamelon á Mamelon (2021) Marie Jawois from The Gambia and an insurance practitioner who recently developed interest in poetry. She has love of nature and dreams of visiting all the countries of the world. This is one of her recent poems Mohammed U. Yusufis a young African poet, writer and lover of real human stories who lives and writes from somewhere in Nigeria. He explores themes around humanity, memory and the socio-political. Some of his works have recently appeared—or are forthcoming—inFrontier Poetry, Rosey Ravelston Books, Olongo Africa Journal, Writers Space Africa- WSA, ARTmosterrific Chapbook: African Politics, Lunaris Review, The Shallow Tales Review, Salamander Ink, Best New African Poets Anthology 2021,among others. Born in 1997,Nyamweya Bonface is a Kenyan poet and novelist.The Nile: Our Neither/Nor(2019) is his first published work

viii

of poetry treating environmental pollution.Peeling the Cobwebs (2020) is his first novel about tribalism in Ricafa, an imaginary African country.Her Question Pills(2020) is his second novel touching feminism and African womanism. His short story: “Whose Title Died” was published in the anthology:Voices that Sing Behind the Veil (2021) compiled by the Pan African Writers Association. In September 2021, his short story:TheSeason of Guavasranked the best on the London based website was (yours2read.com). Nyamweya is currently winding up his Masters in Philosophy at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa. Archie Swansonwas first published inEnglish Alive (1973). Poems have been published inStanzas,New Contrast, theBest New African Poetry Anthologies (2015-2021),Experimental Writing: Africa vs Latin America(2017),Experimental Writing: Africa vs Asia(2018),Vol. 1&2 of Africa vs North America(2018;2019) andWriting Robotics: Africa vs Asia Vol 2Poems were published in the Spanish (2020). National Newspaper,El MundoBolivian newspaper and Correo Del Sur in 2016. In 2017 poems were short-listed for the Sol Plaatje Award and the UK Bridport Prize. His poetry has been anthologized inAbsolute Africa! (2018),Naturally Africa! (2020) and theMcGregor Anthologies (2014-2020). His poem, ‘my geurnica’ placed second in the AVBOB Poetry Competition (English/2019). The poem ‘déjà vu’ inspired a Grant McLachlan composition in 2019. He has published three collections —my skythe stretching of (2018),yearsthe shores of  (2019) andbeyond a distant edge (2021). Archie serves on the Board of the SA Literary Journal. Instagram @poetarchie Dr. Barbara L. Howardwas born in New Albany, Mississippi.

ix