The Cartographer of Water

There is in Clifton’s musicality the fleetness of strings, a mark of East Africa, distinct from the drumbeat throb of the West African line. There is also the presence of the Indian Ocean to the other side. The press of a land that is open savanna that seems to sprawl into the sea allows Clifton to make musical and narrative moves like this…from ‘In Remembrance of Elsa Okello’: “The evolution of nova, the gradual shift into an idea we call destiny.” That is the kind of line you would hear from a poet like Awonoor or, dare I say, even Walcott.