Sat, 11 Jan 2014 Feature Article

For Amiri Baraka 6 (1934-2014)

They will be there,
the whole township of them,
they will be there,
the whole battalion of them,
they will be there
to welcome you
into their fold...
dear old soldier,
you have done
a yeomanly job,
you deserve
the peaceful rest
of the honest,
brave and
strong -
your errand
and mission
have been
fulfilled...
they are already
at the door...
Langston Hughes,
Robert Hayden,
Zora Neale Hurston,
Doctor DuBois,
June Jordan,
they are already
at the door...
they will conduct you
to your specially
prepped berth
of quilt
and down,
all yours
to enjoy
for endless
climes to come -
brave soldier,
you have earned
your keep -
Uncle Langston
will be there
with a solid stash
of blues scores
and scripts,
there will be
rafter-raising hell
to raise to
the high
heavens
the likes of which
has yet
to be seen...
and, oh,
so will be
Jimmy Bee,
the genius
queer craftsman,
all petty
squabbles and
impertinence
forgiven...
laid out for you
will be a new
clean slate
of goodwill
pebble-smooth
like the butts
of a newly born...
your aunt
Maggie Walker
will be there
sashaying
among the throng,
backing up
your post-Nation riffs
like the high-priestess
of rap
which she was
ere rap
even
had a name...
time to harvest
the vintage fruits
of the clan,
time to mold
the minds
of those
yet to come...
Toni Cade Bambara,
as usual,
steaming up
countless vats of
bambara beans
in a goat-meat
broth;
time to feast
on the generous gifts
of painters
and poets;
Uncle Max,
jazzing it up
on the talking-drums,
thumping up
the souls
of the once
depressed
and oppresed...
too many
stories to tell
in a frenzied bid
to catching up
with the times,
enriching the blue-flames
of times and tales
yet to unfold,
more black berries
to lick between
palate and
tongue,
Johnnie Killens
working it all up,
raising raucous laughter
like dust-bowls -

1/11/14

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

Disclaimer: "The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect ModernGhana official position. ModernGhana will not be responsible or liable for any inaccurate or incorrect statements in the contributions or columns here." Follow our WhatsApp channel for meaningful stories picked for your day.

Comments

For Amiri Baraka 6 (1934-2014)

Author's articles (7190)