Creative Writing Wordshops Newsletter September 2025

A Writer’s Underwater Eyes

This month an August morning at sea near Mombasa invoked a metaphor for our writing. Early dawn. We walk to where Tierre’s moors his boat, Taratibu (Swahili go slowly.) We Yamaha out of the mouth of Mtwapa Creek into the open sea. Past thatched Monsoon Restaurant among the mangroves. The wood used for dhows and buildings. In the distance, the waves break.

We arrive at low tide, dodging the coral reefs, and then drop anchor. Already the boat settles onto the sandbar next to a coral reef. Ocean side to the east the surfsize waves. The red gazebo rises Out comes the braai grid, placed on the coral rocks. 360 degrees around us the sea. Lamb chops from Mount Kenya. Kebabs. Craft beer and wine almost as if in a floating restaurant yet embedded in sand.

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