Dzifa Benson speaks to Clementine E. Burnley and Zakia Carpenter-Hall.

Clementine E. Burnley and Zakia Carpenter-Hall are both alumni of the Obsidian Foundation writing retreat. Their poems were published in The Poetry Review, Winter 2021.

The Obsidian Foundation is a writing retreat, a week-long retreat of selected Black poets of African descent. The Obsidian Foundation's goal is to create a community of Black creative diversity where poets are fully self-expressed free from racism. Discover more on their website: obsidianfoundation.co.uk

Clementine E. Burnley and Zakia Carpenter-Hall discuss their experience on the Obsidian Foundation writing retreat, what it means to write in vernacular and how poetry can speak on behalf of a community. They read their poems: 'How To Eat Frogs' (Clementine E. Burnley), 'The Gold Price' (Zakia Carpenter-Hall), 'She Found God In Herself and She Loved Her Fiercely' (Zakia Carpenter-Hall) and 'A Swiss Lace Front Wig' (Clementine E. Burnley).