African Poets

Conversation with
Kwame Dawes

The Fall 2019 issue features a tribute to African Poets. The most vibrant poetry in English today might be coming out of Africa—Kwame Dawes, founder of the African Poetry Book Fund, certainly thinks so, and after reading over 1,000 submissions for this issue, we have to agree. The 17 poems in our feature section are representative of the urgency and excitement that makes the poetry coming out of the continent feel so vital.

The open section features 21 eclectic poems, including new work by Ted Kooser, Laura Kasischke, William Logan, Wendy Videlock, and more.

	African Poets
	O-Jeremiah Agbaakin	Ode to David’s Ennui // Or the Land of Babel II
	Ifeoluwa Ayandele	Chasing Home
	Kwame Dawes	Sorrow
	Jonathan Endurance	Aubade in the Boneyard
	Zaid Gamieldien	Eight Haiku
	Rasaq Malik Gbolahan	What My Children Remember
	Pamilerin Jacob	Erectile Dysfunction as a Variant of Skototropism
	Temidayo Jacob	My Mother Died with Her Home
	Labeja Kodua	Ill Nights
	Akachi Obijiaku	For the Love of Oil
	Anointing Obuh	Don’t You Go
	Chisom Okafor	Birthing
	Ukamaka Olisakwe	Slut
	Chidinma Opaigbeogu	Afternoon
	Olajide Salawu	Finally, My Grandfather Undid Darkness
	Charika Swanepoel	I Fell in Love with an Historian Once
	Trust Tonji	What Makes a Saint Saint?
	Poetry
	Heather Bell	Crayola Has a Contest to Name Their New …
	Jeeae Chang	Enough About the Men …
	Jamey Hecht	Don’t Speak
		Turns Out, I’m Still Asleep
	Ruth Cassel Hoffman	Voice
	David James	At the Forty Winks Motel
	Laura Kasischke	The Odyssey
	Ted Kooser	A Town Somewhere
		Wood Chips
	William Logan	Old Rope
	Megan Mary Moore	If Body Dysmorphia Follows Me to Death
	Peter Munro	Benediction
	Peter E. Murphy	Doing Time
	Aaron Poochigian	Centralia, PA
	Rolli	Let Us Not Even Dream
	Wally Swist	The Ringing of Silence
	Ben Terry	A Bright Future
	Alexandra Umlas	Dissection
	Jack Vian	Flow Chart Without the Flow
	Wendy Videlock	Sticks and Sky
	Sonja Vitow	Radiant
	Conversation
	Kwame Dawes (web)
	Cover Art
	Adwoa Andoh (web)