Sunkwa Revisited

Sunkwa Revisited comprises intensely private poems on a variety of domestic and public subjects. The collection reflects the mood of many other Ghanaian writers at the beginning of the twenty-first century, whose works speak against images of Africa and Africans at home and in the diaspora, images that denigrate both the continent and its scattered children. In short, the poetry seeks to examine and celebrate the complex histories and psycho-political identities of groups and individuals. Sunkwa Revisited confidently uses traditional Fanti languages, U.S. African American speech and various forms of nation language in a style reminiscent of Kamau Brathwaite who draws from the same sources. These are strong poems about loss, about women s day-to-day struggles, sexuality, survival and above all transcendence. And the voice of the black woman in the diaspora resonates with blues themes of all sorts. The category that has been called American Africans is well represented here. Naana Banyiwa Horne s contributions are mature poems in a confident voice that distills wisdom gained over the years about how to navigate quotidian experiences of overdue bills and cultural misunderstandings which threaten to obliterate us. Above all, there is joy in living, an acceptance of sunshine and rain through it all and wonderful memories of home which sustain, always with that riotous, raunchy sense of humor. --Carole Boyce Davies, Florida International University Sunkwa Revisited provides an intensely personal and lyrical journey as it captures and illuminates feelings associated with the loss of a child, the death of a friend, making love with husband, making ends meet, appreciating the gift of ancestors, knowing, oneself, being a woman. The inclusion of Ghanaian words and phrases, beginning with its title, in an English text, instead of possibly creating a problem, adds another poetic dimension and enhances the many African threads which run throughout the poetry.