The poems in Presence are about moments of awakening to social responsibility and social change. They were written on envelopes, paper bags, diaries, and napkins - in the back of buses, in jails, in deserts, and in slums. The poems were often crafted in paradigm moments of truth-seeking, moments when change was being sought, hoped for, accomplished, or denied.
Elizabeth Swart -sociologist, scholar, and activist - has crafter poems that reflect the intersectionality of personal voice and cultural moment. The poems interact with such professional experiences as ethnographic research, human rights accompaniment, acknowledgement of privilege, teaching, and witnessing. The poems capture unique moments of lived experience and poetic memory.