I reproduce this extract from my online project, Epistles To A Young Poet
Dear friend,
It has been a sad, sober moment for many of us in Ghanaian
literati. On Sunday morning, our worst fear was confirmed. The
man who has been the face of Ghanaian poetry for many years
met his untimely death in Kenya whilst attending a literary
festival. A friend had posted on Facebook, “Awoonor is missing.
Please, say a little prayer for him’’ the previous afternoon. Less
than 24 hours later, his body was identified.
Hmmm …
I never met the good old professor. I encountered him through his
poetry in 2003, I think. My father had bought an anthology
titled,” A SELECTION OF AFRICAN POETRY.” Introduced and
annotated by K.E Senanu and T. Vincent for me. He was one the
five Ghanaian poets featured in that edition. The others included
his cousin, Kofi Anyidoho, Yao Egblewogbe, Otukwei Okai and Kwesi Brew.
About five years later, I studied his poem REDISCOVERY for my
WASSCE core literature exams.
It is easy to say that ‘’Prof’’ as he was affectionately and
universally called was proud of his heritage. His poems were
rooted in Ewe lyricism. In fact, his early works were translations of
the Anlo poet and lyricist Akpaloo. Perhaps, this was the
apprenticeship that honed the art of Awoonor. To this, he said, ‘’
it is for this reason I have sat at the feet of ancient poets whose
medium is the voice and whose forum is the village square and the
market place.’’ Part of his lyricist nature could be attributed to
the fact that he was the grandson of an Ewe dirge-singer. His
cousin, Kofi Anyidoho also wrote in similar style.
In “REDISCOVERY”, Awoonor wrote ‘’
There shall still linger here the communion we forged
The feast of oneness which we partook of
This is his desire that even after the storm we will be one. In that
particular poem, he spoke of an ‘’ Eternal Gateman’’. Even
though he did not make a direct reference, this poem had a
mythological feel. In direct terms, he wrote about ‘’Kutsiami the
benevolent boatman’’ in “THE JOURNEY BEYOND.” It seemed
to me the latter is a continuation of the former. So the persona
got passed by the ‘’eternal gateman’’ in “REDISCOVERY” and
then got ferried by Kutsiami to the other world where the silent
fathers live. The significant difference is that ‘’we’’ was used in
REDISCOVERY signifying the communal approach whilst ‘’I’’
was used in THE JOURNEY BEYOND. It means even though
people die as a group, the ‘’journey beyond’’ is an individual
voyage. In these two poems, Awoonor managed to tell us the full
story of Ewe mythology of death and the life after.
He explored the theme of conflict between African and European
cultures in “THE CATHEDRAL”. He wrote,
They sent surveyors and builders
who cut that tree
planting in its place
A huge senseless cathedral of doom
That view was not exclusive to him. David Diop expressed this
same sentiment in the ‘VULTURE’
In those days
When civilization kicked us in the face
When holy water slapped our cringing brows
The vultures built in the shadow of their talons
The bloodstained monument of tutelage
Gabriel Okara had this to say in “PIANO AND DRUMS“
And I lost in the morning mist
of an age at a riverside keep
wandering in the mystic rhythm
of jungle drums and the concerto
Awoonor spoke about how he felt Africans (especially politicians)
have been brainwashed to the extent that they had no urge to
wear African clothing. Thus, in “WE HAVE FOUND A NEW
LAND”, he wrote,
The smart professionals in three piece
Sweating away their humanity in driblets
And wiping the blood from their brow’
The good professor had a good sense of humor. Awoonor in his
lifetime explored negritude themes with the potency of Soyinka. In
him we had a bridge between these two thoughts that dominated
the early post-colonial African poetry scene.
That said, there are two things that I wish ‘Prof’ did not do. The
first has to do with his 1984 book, “THE GHANA
REVOLUTION: A BACKGROUND ACCOUNT FROM A
PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE”. This work was based on his
imprisonment and personal bitterness towards the military junta
that he felt was dominated by Akans. The historical antecedent to
this work has naturally been on diminishing returns. This work has
been pulled out of history and assaulted in a way that has
misrepresented the author. In this system of political kung fu,
anything and everything is possible. In this case, ‘Prof’ has been
unduly victimized. With the benefit of hindsight, I am sure the ‘old
man’ would have done things differently.
The second has to do with his yet to be released collection,
“PROMISES OF HOPE: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS”. By
the time he accepted the deal in 2012 from University of Nebraska
Press and the African Poetry Fund, I felt he should have made it
an anthology and collected works from second and third generation
poets. It seemed to me to have been a perfect opportunity to put
the ailing poetry writing in Ghana on life support. I thought it
would have been wonderful to have an anthology edited by Kofi
Awoonor and Kofi Anyidoho under the patronage of the series
editor, Kwame Dawes. Maybe, they thought of it as a later project.
The AFRICAN THOUGHT 