LET THE STORY TAKE YOU TO HISTORY

THE TIME WAS the summer of 1991.  Kamau said to me, “Where are those Guanahani poems?” The place was the English Department of the University of Miami.  Kamau was the Poetry Director for the Caribbean Writers Summer Institute.  

I was one of several persons attending the Institute and definitely one of the beginner writers in a workshop of established and published writers such as Zee Edgell, Velma Pollard, Michael Anthony, Robert Antoni, to name a few.  I was extraordinarily nervous and lacking in confidence in this setting.

During this six-week summer workshop, Kamau was supportive, encouraging and direct in his interrogation of my work.  He saw that I was struggling.  He said, “Let the story take you to history.”  He challenged in very clear terms my attempt to poeticize the history of The Bahamas, aka Guanahani, and call it poetry.  

I want to thank him for taking the time to offer me a lasting reflection on my craft. The manuscript for Guanahani, My Love won the Casa de las Americas Prize in 1994.

At the same summer workshop, Kamau also made time to interview me, Aurora Ferguson of The Bahamas and Sharon Freeman of the US Virgin Islands.  It was for the archives of the Caribbean Writers Summer Institute. 

Happy birthday, Kamau!!!  Giving thanks for you always.

—
Marion Bethel, poet, lives and works in The Bahamas.