WE HAD a close encounter in our house a couple months back. It was unplanned, unexpected and poetic in nature.

With that casual, don’t-carish air teenagers practice so well, my daughter picked up the review copy of Kamau Brathwaite’s Liviticus, published by House of Nehesi, that has occupied space in our front-house for a while now (along with overdue library books and other unfinished titles) and read the whole thing—thirty pages—out loud, including earthy, elegant foreword by Garrett Hongo and the author’s bio at the end.

1966, June: our first meeting, at a Longman authors’ party. You were there, and Doris/Mex alongside, as Series Editor of The People Who Came;  I as editor of forthcoming anthology of West Indian writing for young readers, later titled The Sun’s Eye.  Your astonishment when I hailed you as author of poem “The Pawpaw,” from a back issue of Bim.