Paterson Award for Literary Excellence.
"Dawes's verse has an expressive power and lyric resonance that
can be attributed to a trans-Atlantic consciousness weaned on the
spiritual sources of reggae."--"New York Times Book Review"
"Raised in Jamaica, Dawes takes some of his cues, and this
book's title, from reggae music. But his voice in these long and
short poems and sequences selected from each of his many books,
which began appearing in the mid-1990s, is crystal clear,
accessible and serious, mixing a timeless myth-making energy with a
strong contemporary conscience..." --National Public Radio
"This first U.S. selection from the Jamaica-bred, Nebraska-based
poet (he also has a reputation in Britain) is his 16th book of
verse in just 20 years; it reveals a writer syncretic, effusive,
affectionate, alert to familial joys, but also sensitive to
history, above all to the struggles of African diasporic
history--the Middle Passage, sharecropper-era South Carolina, the
Kingston of Bob Marley, whose song gives this big book its title.
Dawes is at home with cityscape and seascape, patois and
transatlantic tradition." --"Publishers Weekly"
" Dawes] is highly original and intelligent, possessing poetic
sensibility that is rooted and sound, unshakeable and unstopped,
both in its vibrancy and direction. He writes poetry as it ought to
be written."--"World Literature Today"
"Dawes asserts himself as man and artist and finally, with grace
achieved and grace said, sits down to begin life's tragic feast . .
. a writer of major significance."--"Brag Book"
"The notion of a reggae aesthetic--of the language moving to a
different rhythm, under different kinds of pressure . . . underpins
all Dawes' work as poet."--Stewart Brown
Born in Ghana, raised in Jamaica, and educated in Canada, Kwame
Dawes is a dynamic and electrifying poet. In this generous
collection, new poems appear with the best work from fifteen
previous volumes. Deeply nuanced in exploring the human condition,
Dawes' poems are filled with complex emotion and consistently
remind us what it means to be a global citizen.
From "The Lessons":
"Fingers can be trained to make shapes
that, pressed just right on the gleaming
keys, will make a sound that can stay
tears or cause them to flow for days.
Anyone can learn to make some music,
but not all have the heart to beat
out the tunes that will turn us inside out. . . "
Kwame Dawes is the author of fifteen collections of poetry, two
novels, four anthologies, and numerous essays and plays. In 2009 he
won an Emmy Award for his interactive website, LiveHopeLove.com.
Since 2011 he has taught at the University of Nebraska, and lives
in Lincoln, Nebraska.
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