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Poetry Caribbean & Latin American

Caribbean Blues and Love's Genealogy

by (author) Dannabang Kuwabong

Publisher
Mawenzi House Publishers Ltd.
Initial publish date
Sep 2008
Category
Caribbean & Latin American, General
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781894770507
    Publish Date
    Sep 2008
    List Price
    $20.95

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Description

In this new collection of poetry, Kuwabong shows a maturity of voice and a larger poetic vision to celebrate love-love for the people of the Caribbean and love between lovers.

In the first part of this collection the love that is celebrated emerges from a deep sense of historical reconnection with the poet's African ancestors who were taken captive and sent to the Caribbean. But the focus is not on the brutality of their enslavement, though that is the guiding principle that informs the poetic voice. The poems perform a retrospective search for the roots that his African ancestors planted in the new world without romanticizing their struggles, defeats, and victories. Thus they recreate the continental African as a seeker of a poetic understanding of the African Diaspora in the Caribbean.

In the second part, Kuwabong takes the reader through a Prufrockian maze of relationships complicated by expectations and disappointments. The city of Hamilton, Ontario especially provides the social and physical landscapes that initiate the personae's responses to love made tricky by the extreme challenges of the mundane. Though the poems silently scream with pain and disappointment, these moods are calmed by epiphanies of extreme tenderness that bind the relationships.

About the author

Contributor Notes

Dannabang Kuwabong is a Ghanaian Canadian born in Nanville in the Upper West Region of Ghana. He was educated in Ghana, Scotland, and Canada, and teaches Caribbean literature at the University of Puerto Rico, San Juan. His publications include Konga and other Dagaaba Folktales; Visions of Venom; Caribbean Blues & Love's Genealogy; Echoes from Dusty Rivers; and Voices from Kibuli Country. He lives in Hamilton, Ontario.

Editorial Reviews

". . . these poems are rhythmical, full of life, meant to be read aloud." --Rabble.ca