Ghana Poetry Project

Nana Nyarko Boateng

“Poetry is an earth pot that holds powerful words,” writes Nana Nyarko Boateng, “reaching smells, a garland of images, a cocktail of emotions, spirit music.” Boateng is a 22 year old poet attending the University of Ghana where she is studying English and Political Science. She writes, “The centerpiece of our poetic culture is performance, the oratory, the music and involvement of the audience has become less apparent in contemporary Ghanaian poetry; the proverbial “horse tail” seems to be held not in full grips. There is a gap between the former tradition which was mainly performance and our current circumstance which provokes print than performance.”

The Ghana Poetry Project is a new effort to promote the poetry of Ghana and its poets in Ghana and around the world.

Black list

merge discrete metals to smithereens,
blacksmith who ain’t black
and don’t smith

Black Africa,
a golden ring with a diamond/
a diamond ring with a golden rim?

I am Black
not because I am African

Black is what I feel
an explicit soul speaking lingo
a never melting candle lighting deeper character

Africa is my home
An aesthetic sanctuary,
a giant fortress of rolling cultures

where are the black souls blackheads black deeds
black countries that made Africa?
where are the black voices black gold black art
black masses that move the world?

children gather in black magic global village
to listen to songs of the black beast black humor
black comedy black tales too tall to be written
on black boards in black ink in black english

I am a black sheep in a blackout globe
a black mark that keeps my black look black eye untie,
I had / have a black lamp a black flag black pepper
a black pot of black berries and a blackcap
Uncle Tom and Stepin Fetchit sold for free
on black market day

Kokrokoo!
I am not a crow
I enter black mood mornings
in a big black hooded cloak carrying
a blacklist of black pride, black love black wood
blackstrap black stamp black top black waters
home people, gone people, all people
welcome to black people

Smitten black,
a black hearted African
a black nippled pelican
blackity black-tie black
blacken blackish blackfish
blacked blackest blackbird

Mama Africa
you use to be in the Black
a black hole feeding black hills with,
black panthers, black monkeys, black guards

Ena Africa
you went beyond black shirts
black bile black widow and black friars
undo black death
in my home

catch the black ball
keep the black thorn
swim the black sea
find the black belt
erect the black economy

Stop oh Black Maria,
hit me with the black jack
put me in the black box
kiss my black leg
fight me for my black spot

black-currant growers
black pudding eating liberators
black ice breakers
find air in black pool
then
paint me black
absolute black
invincible black
ubiquitous black
black black
Black Power Black

You can find previous postings of poets in the archives.

Selected Works

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

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

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.