January 1, 2009

Ghana Journal: Martin Egblewogbe

Two Poems by Martin Egblewogbe

Click here to watch Martin Egblewogbe read his two poems.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybb2Qx--0lI)

the stars still shine despite the clouds

love is a meteor
burning bright and dying fast
memories are stars
shining through the silence of the night

and if i don't see you
again

i will remember
the curve of your brow completing a smile

the possibility of a rainbow universe
with no questions
no answers
just
fingers locking in silence

and if i don't see you
again

i will hold on to shadows
and so
i will survive the night.

Heroin

looking at you looking at me

supernova babe

voice purring like engine revving

universes collapse and are reborn

there's love
there's passion
and there's heroin

looking at you
looking at me
stripping the night of fear

you are naked
without concern

what is this body

heroin babe
night wraith
hit me once

and
hit me once
again

time cheats us now

looking at you
fading into the dark
you'll never really go

heroin babe

Biographical Note on Martin Egblewogbe:

I first came across a poem by Martin Egblewogbe in a small collection of Ghanaian poets that I discovered in the gift shop at the Kakum National Forest Canopy Walk, one of the country’s biggest tourist attractions. Tucked between a copy of Values of Adinkra & Agama Symbols and photocopied volume, A Hiker’s Guide to Rainforest was An Anthology of Contemporary Ghanaian Poems, edited by Woeli A Dekutsey and John Sackey. Published in 2004 by Woeli Publishing, this 144-page volume collected forty poets ranging from acclaimed bards such as Kofi Awoonor and Kwesi Brew to younger unpublished poets. One of the poems that jumped out at me when I first opened the book was a poem titled “An Old Felt Hat.” I was charmed by the way Martin Egblewogbe worked his images with precision and clarity and decided to share this poem with my students at the University of Ghana. It was only after I taught his poem at the university along with another young Ghanaian poet Theresa Ennin that I introduced to Martin via email by Rob Taylor, editor of the online literary magazine One Ghana, One Voice: Poems and Poets of Ghana (http://oneghanaonevoice.com/).

Since then I have had the pleasure of listening to Martin read numerous poems. Martin also will have a new collection of short stories, Mr. Happy and the Hammer of God. I will include one of his stories and information for how to get a copy of the collection in future weeks.

Martin currently lives in Accra, Ghana, where he writes poetry and fiction. His work has been published in anthologies and periodicals. He was won several prizes for his writing and is the former producer and host of “Open Air Theatre,” a radio program featuring emerging Ghanaian poets. He is currently the editor of The Ghanaian Book Review (http://www.kpokplomaja.com), a web portal for Ghanaian writing. He is currently a lecturer in physics at the University of Ghana where he is also completely his PhD. in physics. His collection of my short stories, Mr. Happy and the Hammer of God, is currently available.

Selected Works

3. Poetry

Dave the Potter
A picturebook poem describing the life of the slave potter Dave. Illustrated by Bryan Collier.

Contemporary Poetry of New England
“Contemporary Poetry of New England offers a vivid portrait of a region, its colors and smells, its physical and emotional textures, and the people…. It presents a range of poets, few of whom would call themselves a “region poet,” although each has taken to heart in a private way Frost’s haunting dictum: ‘Locality gives art.’”

--from the Introduction

1. Nonfiction

DJ Kool Herc
The first picturebook biography of the founder of rap and hip hop, DJ Kool Herc!

America Dreaming: How Youth Changed America in the 60s
"Phenomenal."–Howard Zinn "Excellent."–New York Times Book Review

Harlem Stomp! A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance
“Harlem Stomp! is a wonderous new book: it celebrates a time, a place, an energy, and a people who refused to be held back and so they created a culture the entire world is still reeling from.”

--George C. Wolfe, writer, director, and producer of the Public Theater, NYC

2. Fiction

A Brush with Napoleon
A seventeen-year-old is plucked out of the Grande Armee to sit in place of Napoleon for a portrait of the Emperor by the artist David.

Casa Azul
"I felt like a kid reading every word on the page! I liked the strains of "magic realism" coming through in Frida's house! Children will relate to this very much! The story is charming and reads like a thriller." –Margarita Aguilar, Assisant Curator, El Museo del Barrio

4. Middle Grade Series

Xtreme Mysteries
These kids love extreme sports--snowboarding, skateboarding, rock climbing, wake boarding--and are ready to fight when the right to do their sport is threatened.