The poems in this book are, thematically, grouped into five sets. The first set of three poems, labelled "Libation," are basically a prayer and they set the stage for what follows. The poems in Part 2, subtitled "On Wings of Song (The Muse and I)," are mostly love poems which express sentiments with which many readers will be able to identify. The subtitle of the poems in Part 3 is "Home Affairs." These poems describe the anxieties, the hopes and the fears that many of us have experienced at various times in our lives. These normal human experiences are expressed so vividly and with such poignancy that the reader is left feeling that the poet has indeed spoken for him. Part 4, "Embers and Rubies of Life," contains the largest number of poems, and they are mostly philosophical reflections on the meaning and significance of life's experiences. The last set of poems in Part 5, "Transformations," contains the poem that gives the title to the book.

This volume lists the work produced on anglophone black African literature between 1997 and 1999. This bibliographic work is a continuation of the highly acclaimed earlier volumes compiled by Bernth Lindfors. Containing about 10,000 entries, some of which are annotated to identify the authors discussed, it covers books, periodical articles, papers in edited collections and selective coverage of other relevant sources.

This compilation was inspired by an international symposium held on the Legon campus in September 2003. Hosted by the CODESRIA African Humanities Institute Programme, the symposium had the theme 'Canonical Works and Continuing Innovation in African Arts & Humanities'.

When Gary Snyder’s long poem Mountains and Rivers Without End was published in 1996, it was hailed as a masterpiece of American poetry. Anthony Hunt offers a detailed historical and explicative analysis of this complex work using, among his many sources, Snyder’s personal papers, letters, and interviews. Hunt traces the work’s origins, as well as some of the sources of its themes and structure, including Nō drama; East Asian landscape painting; the rhythms of storytelling, chant, and song; Jungian archetypal psychology; world mythology; Buddhist philosophy and ritual; Native American traditions; and planetary geology, hydrology, and ecology. His analysis addresses the poem not merely by its content, but through the structure of individual lines and the arrangement of the parts, examining the personal and cultural influences on Snyder’s work. Hunt’s benchmark study will be rewarding reading for anyone who enjoys the contemplation of Snyder’s artistry and ideas and, more generally, for those who are intrigued by the cultural and intellectual workings of artistic composition.

ONE OF THE most well-known passages in the Bible—and, perhaps, in all of literature—is the thirteenth chapter of St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, often called the “love chapter.” In it, Paul extols the qualities of love and ends his writing by stating, “And these three abide: faith, hope, and love.” These three virtues have guided me during my days on this earth: ? A faith that draws me daily to admit my inadequacies and to ask for the grace to live a life worthy of His calling ? A hope that continuously compels me to be a stronger person, a brighter light, a better writer ? A deep and abiding love for God, my family, my friends I have tried to express these virtues in the poems I share with you here. The majority of my poems do not rhyme. Instead, I like to build a rhythm in my writing by how I break each line in a verse so that your eye is constantly yearning for the next word. For something different, I have included two examples—escape and Lovers and Other Strangers—of concrete poetry, a form developed in the 1950s in which the physical shape of the words on the page adds as much meaning to the poem as the words themselves. And with a nod to my Bachelor’s degree in Russian, I also give you ? ?????????? ????????????, with its translation on the following page. I recently took one of those online quizzes about “what type of writer are you?” My results said that, “You write because you feel a deeper calling to the work, and because you want to explore the soul element of life. You’re not shy of adding a moral to the story and most want to reach readers who will understand your unique view on life. Writing is more than just putting words on paper for you—it is a written prayer.” And to that I can say only, “Amen.”

Includes articles, annotated filmography, interviews, creative writing, and book reviews.