Sat, 11 Jul 2009 Feature Article

The Obama Serenades IV

Our Kinsman Slept under Our Roof

Tonight
is a great night
for Ghana
and Africa
and America
and Asia
and Europe
and Australia
and South America
and all the world as well…

tonight
Africa's first
American son
is at home
and at peace
with himself,
being also
among
his own…

a decade ago,
the Scottish one
declined
to spend
the night
with us,
a rapturous
adulating crowd,
surfeit affection
and all;
he would rather
spend the night
with his own
and among
his own…
one could hardly
blame him,
for he deeply knew
what we have known
all our lives:
blood is thicker
than water,
even as the palm
of one's hand
is known to afford
greater comfort
than the back
of the same…

a decade ago,
the great Scotsman
flatly declined
the warmth
of the best bed
in our home;
we felt piqued
and even miffed
by such diplomatic
slight;
still,
we couldn't blame him
for distrusting
our candid offer
of comfort
and love,
for one couldn't
always be as certain
of friendship as
of kinship bonds…

and so tonight
is a cloud-nine night
for Ghana
and Africa;
tonight,
we shall camp
by the fireplace,
softly and
sweetly while
the cool,
starry night away
with wisdom-filled tales
callously severed
in the telling
when those blue-eyed men
weighed anchor
on our shores;
that was when
our familial links
fell apart,
that was when
our children lost
their innocence
and our parents
and grandparents
lost touch
with themselves
and their souls…

tonight,
we shall camp
by the fireplace
and catch up
with epic events
of the past,
even as we pledge
to never foul
our birth-waters
again…

Africa's first
American son
came home tonight;
we always knew
this day would come to pass,
it was all
just a matter
of time
and tide,
a matter of the ant-butcher's
deliberate care …
Africa's first
American son
came home tonight,
and then
we felt
the very weight
of the world
in our sway;
Africa's first
American son
returned home tonight,
and our entire village
went agog
with tears
of joy…

7/10/09

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr.

Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., PhD, taught Print Journalism at Nassau Community College of the State University of New York, Garden City, for more than 20 years. He is also a former Book Review Editor of The New York Amsterdam News.. More He holds Bachelor of Arts (Summa Cum Laude) in English, Communications and Africana Studies from The City College of New York of The City University of New York, where he was named a Ford Foundation Undergraduate Fellow and the first recipient of the John J. Reyne Artistic Achievement Award in English Poetry (Creative Writing) in 1988.

The author was part of the "socially revolutionary" team of undergraduate journalists at City College of New York (CCNY) of the City University of New York (CUNY), who won First-Prize certificates for Best Community Reporting from the Columbia University School of Journalism, for three consecutive years, from 1988 to 1990.

Born April 8, 1963, in Ghana; naturalized U.S. citizen; son of Kwame (an educator) and Dorothy (maiden name, Sintim) Okoampa-Ahoofe; children: Abena Aninwaa, Kwame III. Ethnicity: "African." Education: City College of the City University of New York, B.A. (summa cum laude), 1990; Temple University, M.A., 1993, Ph.D., 1998. Politics: Independent. Religion: "Christian—Ecumenist." Hobbies and other interests: Political philosophy.

CAREER: Ghana National Cultural Center, Kumasi, poet, 1979–84; Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, worked as instructor in English; Technical Career Institutes, New York, NY, instructor in English, 1991–94; Indiana State University, Terre Haute, instructor in history, 1994–95; Nassau Community College, Garden City, NY, member of English faculty. Participant in World Bank African "Brain-Gain" pilot project.

MEMBER: Modern Language Association of America, National Council of Teachers of English, African Studies Association, Community College Humanities Association.

AWARDS, HONORS: Essay award, Nassau Review, 1999.Column: Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., PhD

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The Obama Serenades IV

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