After the ceremonies : new and selected poems / Ama Ata Aidoo ; edited and with a foreword by Helen Yitah.

"Ama Ata Aidoo is one of the best-known African writers today. Spanning three decades of work, the poems in this collection address themes of colonialism, independence, motherhood, and gender in intimate, personal ways alongside commentary on broader social issues. After the Ceremonies is arranged in three parts: new and uncollected poems, some of which Aidoo calls "misplaced or downright lost"; selections from Aidoo's An Angry Letter in January and Other Poems; and selections from Someone Talking to Sometime. Although Aidoo is best known for her novels Changes: A Love Story and Our Sister Killjoy, which are widely read in women's literature courses, and her plays The Dilemma of a Ghost and Anowa, which are read and performed all over the world, her prowess as a poet shines in this collection"-- Provided by publisher

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Machine generated contents note: pt. ONE New and Uncollected Poems -- Prelude: For My Mother in Her Mid-90s -- I. Fires and Ashes -- Me Pilgrim -- Heathrow Healing -- As the Dust Begins to Settle II: An Afterword, Twenty Years On -- To a Silk Shirt in the Sun -- After the Ceremonies -- II. Grieving for the Living -- Interrogation of an Academic Kind: An Essay -- For Bessie Head -- Taking Care of Our Bourgeois Palates II -- -- Our Very Dear Juliana -- Juliana (The Translation) -- More Bad News: In Memoriam Fred E.K. Gbedemah -- Awoonor? Ebei Oo!! -- Awoonor, Hmmm ... (The Translation) -- These Days (III): A Letter to Flora Nwapa -- Ode to Qunu -- III. National Corruption Index and Other Poems -- National Corruption Index -- I. Really Funny Numbers -- II. Just This Morning -- III. More Really Funny Numbers -- IV. About Single Trees -- V. All of It -- On Reading Jackie Kay -- Why on Earth Do I Continue to Listen to the BBC?! -- Mourning Ricci -- IV. Ghana: Where the Bead Speaks -- Ghana: Where the Bead Speaks -- pt. TWO Selections from An Angry Letter in January -- I. As Always, a Painful: Declaration of Independence -- As Always, a Painful Declaration of Independence -- II. Images of Africa at Century's End -- Images of Africa at Century's End -- In Memoriam: The Ghana Drama Studio -- Question from the Expatriate Community -- Angry Letter in January -- Speaking of Hurricanes -- These Days: I -- Three Poems for Chinua Achebe -- 1. Modern African Story -- 1. Questions -- 3. New in Africa: I -- Loving the Black Angel -- No Grief No Joy -- Insider's View -- Homesickness -- Two Letters -- 1. Family -- 2. After an Argument -- III. Women's Conferences and Other Poems -- Just One More Job for Mama -- Whom Do We Thank for Women's Conferences? -- Young Woman's Voice Doesn't Break. It Gets Firmer -- Comparisons II: We Women, Still! -- These Days: II -- Path in the Sky -- Birthday Gift -- Postcard from My Vacation -- Revelation -- pt. THREE Selections from Someone Talking to Sometime -- I. Of Love and Commitment -- Crisis -- Of Love and Commitment -- Greetings from London -- Three Poems for Atta Britwum -- 1. Ghana Funerals -- 2. Nation Building -- 3. Salute to African Universities -- For Steve Hymer -- A Propos 1966 -- Two for Kojo -- 1. As the Dust Begins to Settle -- A Long Story II -- 2. Regrets -- II. New Orleans: Mid-1970s Carolyn -- For a Zulu in the Bayous -- Lorisnrudi -- Acknowledgments -- with an Apology to Ronald -- III. Routine Drugs -- Routine Drugs I -- for Eldred Jones -- Routine Drugs II -- Gynae One -- Comparisons -- for Rose -- Wondering about Him Who Said No to the Glare of the Open Day -- IV. Reply to Fontamara -- Reply to Fontamara I -- Reply to Fontamara II -- Now That the Weatherman Has Gone Crazy ... -- Heavy Traffic -- From the Only Speech That Was Not Delivered at the Rally -- V. Legacies -- Visible World -- Of Gifts and References -- For Kinna II -- Ekunekun -- Totems -- VI. Kwadwom from a Stillborn Creole Kingdom -- Egyeifi's Farewell -- Nourishment -- Woaeenn I -- VII. Tomorrows Song -- Wanted Urgently for Immediate Employment.

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