Madman at Kilifi

Clifton Gachagua is a screenwriter, filmmaker, and translator based in Nairobi. His poetry has appeared in Saraba and Kwani? 06.

"The judges of the first Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets have agreed that, without a doubt, we are experiencing in this book the opening noises of a poet who will make a great deal of important noise in the future."—from the foreword by Kwame Dawes

• The Cartographer of Water: A Foreword by Kwame DawesCharcoal on CanvasA Slow Boat to ChinaSatelliteAt the Confucius CentrePromenadeThe Lights in ZanzibarEternally DistractedGhostwriter: A Found PoemShakaraMemorialThe Nobel Prize for MedicineOn a Terrace Balcony in AbujaAlgorithmReality TelevisionSeptemberPrinciples of VariationsOtto GrossCentral ParkDesertionNew HouseThe AnointingI Could Smell ThemLost StonesTravel GuideIt’s Not the Same as When You Crush Paper FlowersA Bronze God, or a Letter on DemandBirdsImitation BodiesMy Sisters Used to Put Me in DressesUnclaimedMountainStrange MaleMerchant of FleshPlayhouse LaneLet Us Now Talk about Your Waist, SayingDancersA Benzedrine HallucinationMadman at KilifiYoungReclaiming a Beloved CityThe Ante-ChamberImagine Those Slender CigarettesConcerto of the UnconcernedGalileeA Genre of IsolationBrideTreasonCucu NjeriThe Latrine of GiardiaThe Bin“Metrosexual”Approaching Siaya