Promise of Hope

Kofi Awoonor (1935–2013) was a diplomat and a professor of comparative literature at numerous universities, including the University of Ghana. He is the author of several volumes of poetry, including Night of My Blood; Ride Me, Memory; The House by the Sea; and The Latin American and Caribbean Notebook. His collected poems (through 1985) were published in Until the Morning After. Kofi Anyidoho, a poet and scholar, serves on editorial boards for several journals and has been a guest editor of Matatu, a journal of African culture and society that is published in Amsterdam.

"Valuable for its vivid attempts to make new, locally rooted forms."-Publishers Weekly"A celebration of the work of one of our important world poets for readers both inside and outside Africa."—From the foreword by Kwame Dawes “We pay homage to Kofi Awoonor as a poet not only with a profound vision and articulation of the world, our world, but also with a gift of words that is at home in poetry, in prose, in critical literary studies, and equally in major essays about our African, our human condition.”-From the introduction by Kofi Anyidoho

• Foreword by Kwame DawesAcknowledgmentsIn Retrospect: An Introduction by Kofi AnyidohoFrom Herding the Lost Lamb (2013)The Light Is OnThe New Boy on the BlockAcross a New DawnSongs of AbuseTo Feed Our PeopleTo the Ancient PoetsCounting the YearsOnce MoreOn the Gallows OnceTruthWhat Brought Me Here?What More Can I Give?Those Gone AheadUp in the GardenXiansi, Pou Tou DallaI'll Raise a New SongRemembranceFrom Latin American & Caribbean Notebook (1992)In MemoriamOf Home and Sea I Already SangOf Home Once MoreRio de Janeiro: Fearful and Lovely CityDistant Home CountryAgra: January 21, 1989Cuban ChaptersThe Hero's BloodOf Faith and FortitudeThe Orient ExpressBetrayersHavana, Cuba: The Free Territory of the AmericasA CaressFor Tenu and Afetsi: A HymnOf NiggerhoodA Death ForetoldThe Prophecy from IranIn Memoriam: Return to KingstonLover's SongThe Red Bright Book of HistoryAt a Time Like ThisBack with SandinoPrayerThe Ancient TwineSeatime, AnotherReadings and MusingsLight Hours in VerseTime RevisitedA Thin Echo of Time's Voice"As Long As There Are Tears and Suffering, So Long Our Work Will Not Be Over,” Jawaharlal Nehru"The Girl that Died In HavanaOur Pride AloneDream-AgainNew RainBirds on an Autumn WireShamla Hills: BhopalShamla Hills: Sanchi TemplesChildhoodPartingFrom Until the Morning After (1987)Life's TearsSo the World ChangesLife's WindsGrains and TearsHad Death not Had Me in TearsAct of FaithI RejoiceThe PictureFor EzekiFrom The House by the Sea (1978)Part One: Before the JourneyPoems, Fall '73The Land EnduresGoing SomehowFor Pablo NerudaRequiem for PabloAfter the Exile and the FeastsSome Talk of Lunar VirginsPoemPoetryDeparture and ProspectWhen Going into JailAfricaPoemOf AbsencePoemPoemSequencesFor Henoga Vinoko AkpaluAn American PoemAnother Lover's SongSelf-PortraitPart Two: Homecoming . . . Poems from PrisonHomecomingThe Second Circle: Beginning Midnight, 5 January 1976On Being Told of TortureThe First CircleDream of HomeRevolutionTo Sika on Her 11th BirthdayRevolution: A Chat with Ho Chi Minh’s GhostFound PoemAnother Found PoemThe PlacePoemUsLovePersonal NoteSea Time, Meaning a PledgeThe Will to DieA Little WordThe Wayfarer Comes HomesFrom Ride Me, Memory (1973)AmericaHarlem on a Winter NightLong Island SketchesTo My Uncle Jonathan: A Song of AbuseTo Felicity, a Girl I Met in L.A.Hymns of Praise, Celebration, and PrayerEtchings from My MindMy Father's PrayerMy Uncle the Diviner-ChieftainTo SikaTo Those Gone AheadFrom Night of My Blood (1971)I Heard a Bird CryNight of My BloodStop The Death-CryA DirgeMore MessagesAt the GatesThe DanceDo Not Handle ItAll Men My BrothersLament of the Silent SistersHymn To My Dumb EarthThey Do Not Sound for MeFrom Rediscovery and other Poems (1964)My God of Songs Was IllThe Sea Eats the Land at HomeThe CathedralWhat Song Shall We SingWe Have Found a New LandThe Anvil and the HammerRediscoveryThe Weaver BirdThe PurificationThe Gone LocustsSongs of SorrowFrom This Earth, My Brother: An Allegorical Tale of Africa (1971)The Making of the New Nation (Chapter 2a)From Comes the Voyager at Last: A Tale of Return to Africa (1992)Festival of OnenessAn Epilogue by Kofi AwoonorSource Acknowledgments