Maryland Writers Association feature SA Poet, Siki Dlanga

Maryland Writer's Association is featuring me as a guest poet this Friday, 7 June 2024 at 7pm Maryland time. It will unfortunately be 1am, 8 June 2024 that same time.

I am deeply moved and encouraged by this invitation. I am reminded of the wonderful exposure my poetry enjoyed while I was studying in the US. I crisscrossed the country with my poem which was also published on PBS.

American corporations wanted to dig up the graves of people freed by Harriet Tubman and they wanted to build on top on those graves. A black Baptist church was fighting against that. In addition, some archeologists and environmentalists were equally invested in preserving the cemetery of Harriet Tubman's people. I wrote the poem inspired by the idea of Harriet's freed people fighting from their graves. It was almost like an Ezekiel 37 scenario where God asks Ezekiel if these dead bones can live? They became an army. There was something deeply refreshing and profound about that particularly given the extraordinary life of Harriet Tubman who was nicknamed Moses. I wrote the poem on the day that we normally commemorate Sharpville Day in South Africa. It was the day where Africans were shot by the apartheid government for protesting against pass laws and demanding freedom of movement in their own Africa. The poem was well-loved in America. I was asked to perform it in various gatherings, radio stations and conferences. I was invited to various states and I remember an actor that requested to perform it. It was published on PBS after I read it on a radio station in DC. This invitation by Maryland Writer's Association feels like coming full circle. It will be via zoom tomorrow on Friday.

I hope the Americans will enjoy my poetry this time as much as they used to enjoy it when I was with them. I last performed my poetry in Chicago in the Summer of 2022.

Here is the zoom link for Friday, 7pm Maryland time https://us02web.zoom.us/w/85206964058?tk=r_Wq9o9cuXZpXHViYiuCJiJRXuU1gy7_sR6z6F6M7jY.DQMAAAAT1rsXWhZpSDNjd29lZFJWU1l6OHJ2a2ZHbDJ3AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA