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Testament of the Seasons  (2013) is an anthology of poems in fourteen segments by Mawuli Adzei collected over a period of three decades. The poems cover wide ranging issues: from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the bombing of the World Trade Centre; from the Arab Springs to the Cold War and Holocaust; from love to identity and race and death. Mawuli's anthology consist of poems about issues that has affected his world views. He talks about the hegemony of the West as wells as the tribalism at home and his love for his people. Mawuli would not be bolted to a single place; he is  'neither a signifyin' monkey/ Nor a simulating chameleon'.  Yet, he is a member of his clan; their mirror image for if you  just touch my face/ You touch a clan. The anthology opens with  Winds of Change  - a collection of poems about the recent seemingly stochastic uprisings that swept large parts of North Africa and Middle East. The segment opens with  Springtime , a poe...

This interview is meant to replace the usual review I do for books I have read. There are several reasons for this but the chief one is that I failed to make notes when I read. This will not be a routine. How do you introduce yourself to people, especially the literary side of you? Hmmm, basically I'm simple and down to earth. With literary side of me, I would say I was not trained to write. Writing came to me when nothing else would. I found writing young. It wasn't my first love though; sketching was though I have not developed it as much as I would have loved to. When I write, I write to set myself free irrespective of whatever someone may think or feel. That was the way writing started for me. The more I wrote and experienced life, the more I discovered there were other things to talk about apart from using writing as a personal tool. I write articles and essays sometimes apart from poetry which I consider my usual domain. I have tried short stories but not yet compl...

Breaking Silence (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013; 148), edited by James Robert Myers, as the subtitle suggests, is a collection of poems about slavery and also about love. The anthology has contributions from many varied sources such as Australia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, India, Spain, United States, South Africa, Belgium, Nigeria and others; however, the majority of the poems is by Ghanaians. The anthology contains such experienced and well-known poets, such as Mbizo Chirasha and Phillip Oyinka (Nana Asaase) and completely new and young voices. However, these youngish voices are not innocent with their words. The idea of bringing love and slavery together is unique and one that could be difficult; for juxtaposing love and slavery requires a lot of balancing and subtle transition. What this anthology portrays is that though massive wrongs were done against a people, though they were inhumanly treated and traded as properties and tools, though on them their masters unl...