And living well in a world that colludes against life is hard work. And that is what makes writing poems hard—not the writing itself but the conditions I am trying to write within.

My people (Bakongo) are known to be the witches and wizards of Angola, the jokes make me smile, I´m from a lineage of people who deal with the spirit. And it makes me glad because Jaliya is a celebration of spirit and magic.

it falls down, this rain which long echoed in heads slowly growing dark like clouds with remembered cruelties, of uniformed animals who grew horns riding our back and becomes the tumult of marchers flowing as flood down the battered roads of lagos, abuja, port harcourt, benin, jos