COVID meditations from literary phenom Otoniya J. Okot Bitek
Rife with the paradoxical forces of boredom and intensity, the early days of COVID-19 passed under an inescapable pall. The poems of Song & Dread seek quietude, order, refuge, and space within that shroud. They remind us of community, connectedness, and what is inherently shared. Here, Otoniya J. Okot Bitek becomes a record keeper, observing the contradictory, symbiotic relationship between the quotidian and the extraordinary. These works are of their time, while remembering an existence outside it. With a keen eye, Bitek documents the ways the strange can become normalized when there is no other option.