April 29, 2022:
It didn't end in Africa.
I listened to Calypso, Soca, Mambo, Salsa, Afro-Cuban, Zydeco, Ska, Two-Tone, Blues, American Folk — and Kate Bush. Mahlathini and Woody Guthrie, Hank Williams and King Sunny Ade. Alone in bed in Spring Valley with headphones late at night, in a room that reeked of possum under the house. Or not alone: with the little mooch who loved me and I sometimes loved in return.
I still play the songs I wrote in those three years. Maybe one day you'll hear them.