{"product_id":"keorapetse-kgositsile-9781496221155","title":"Keorapetse Kgositsile","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKeorapetse Kgositsile, South Africa’s second poet laureate, was a political activist, teacher, and poet. He lived, wrote, and taught in the United States for a significant part of his life and collaborated with many influential and highly regarded writers, including Gwendolyn Brooks, Sterling Plumpp, Dudley Randall, and George Kent. This comprehensive collection of Kgositsile’s new and collected works spans almost fifty years.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e During his lifetime, Kgositsile dedicated the majority of his poems to people or movements, documenting the struggle against racism, Western imperialism, and racial capitalism, and celebrating human creativity, particularly music, as an inherent and essential aspect of the global liberation struggle. This collection demonstrates the commitment to equality, justice, and egalitarianism fostered by cultural workers within the mass liberation movement. As the introduction notes, Kgositsile had an “undisputed ability to honor the truth in\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“If I could sing, after a sudden rain, I would certainly praise in my song Keorapetse Kgositsile’s poetry because it was shaped by his body and his soul, both of them existing all along a marvelous and historical lifetime—Willie’s property—forever beginning, forever laughing, like he did himself, inspired, nourished by Afrika, the deep and wise homeland of our own. His transparent voice was given to the service of freedom, all over the planet. Kgositsile is like his fellow poet David Diop, a strong ‘spirit, ever since unchained.’ And I will always say to him: Thanks, brother, ‘You are what Man should be.’”—Nancy Morejón, author of \u003ci\u003eBefore A Mirror, The City\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eHoming Instincts\/Querencias\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[Kgositsile’s] poems transcend the superficial definitions which some might attempt to make on the basis of quick-draw ideologies, tactics and postures from yesterday’s conferences, and keep their fingers on the pulsations of the Black soul history. That emotional history, with its consequent cry for steadiness and action, for undeviating clear-sightedness, for rejection of death, in its range of reference and feeling, jumps forth in these pages as truly deep Pan-Africanism—the truly joining thing.”—George Kent, introduction to \u003ci\u003eThe Present is a Dangerous Place to Live\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“When trying to find texts to compare Kgositsile with one thinks of Pablo Neruda of Chile, García Lorca of Spain, Agostinho Neto of Angola, Okot p’Bitek of Uganda, and Thomas McGrath of the United States. . . . There is something magical in the way the personae of these poems seemingly start in one direction, reverse, or deviate to side paths, and then deftly start in an entirely different one to begin anew on another plane of reality. This is the work of a poet hearing his own muse and inventing an original expression as medium for the oracle.”—Sterling Plumpp, foreword to \u003ci\u003eIf I Could Sing\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“What Kgositsile has to say is too urgent for the conceit and fanciful ambiguity of literary artifice.”—Chinua Achebe\u003cbr\u003e“The young want to move and they want everything else to move—including poetry. Willie Kgositsile’s poetry lunges, strains its muscles—and barks or howls or richly murmurs or screams.”—Gwendolyn Brooks, introduction to \u003ci\u003eMy Name Is Afrika\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEditors’ Note: In the Original . . .\u003cbr\u003e Introduction in Two Movements\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eSpirits Unchained \u003c\/i\u003e(1969)\u003cbr\u003e To Gloria\u003cbr\u003e For LeRoi Jones, April, 1965\u003cbr\u003e When Brown Is Black\u003cbr\u003e Brother Malcolm’s Echo\u003cbr\u003e Mandela’s Sermon\u003cbr\u003e Elegy for David Diop\u003cbr\u003e Ivory Masks in Orbit\u003cbr\u003e Lumumba Section\u003cbr\u003e Spirits Unchained\u003cbr\u003e To Fanon\u003cbr\u003e Song for Aimé Césaire\u003cbr\u003e My Name Is Afrika\u003cbr\u003e For Spellman at Spelman\u003cbr\u003e I Am Music People\u003cbr\u003e Origins\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eFor Melba\u003c\/i\u003e (1970)\u003cbr\u003e And the Long Story\u003cbr\u003e Song for Melba\u003cbr\u003e mmabatho: Dakar, 1966\u003cbr\u003e The Creator\u003cbr\u003e Indeed in Deed\u003cbr\u003e For Those Who Love \u0026amp; Care\u003cbr\u003e True Blue\u003cbr\u003e Of Death and Lives\u003cbr\u003e Death Doses\u003cbr\u003e Death Doses No. 2\u003cbr\u003e Death Doses No. 3\u003cbr\u003e My People When Nothing Moves\u003cbr\u003e Come Duze\u003cbr\u003e 3000 Miles Apart\u003cbr\u003e Of Us for Us\u003cbr\u003e In Time\u003cbr\u003e By A. B. Inspired\u003cbr\u003e Tropics\u003cbr\u003e For Melba\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eMy Name Is Afrika\u003c\/i\u003e (1971)\u003cbr\u003e The Air I Hear\u003cbr\u003e Impulse\u003cbr\u003e Shotgun\u003cbr\u003e Mayibuye iAfrika\u003cbr\u003e Could Be\u003cbr\u003e Random Notes to My Son\u003cbr\u003e To Mother\u003cbr\u003e My People No Longer Sing\u003cbr\u003e To a Black Woman, Insane\u003cbr\u003e To My Daughter\u003cbr\u003e Sift and Shift\u003cbr\u003e Vector or Legacy\u003cbr\u003e Bleached Callouses, Africa, 1966\u003cbr\u003e The Lip Trick\u003cbr\u003e The Nitty-Gritty\u003cbr\u003e Time\u003cbr\u003e New Dawn\u003cbr\u003e Inherent and Inherited Mistrusts\u003cbr\u003e Symptoms\u003cbr\u003e Flirtation\u003cbr\u003e Conditioned\u003cbr\u003e Innuendo\u003cbr\u003e Axiomatic\u003cbr\u003e Bandung Dance\u003cbr\u003e For Afroamerica\u003cbr\u003e No Celebration\u003cbr\u003e In the Nude\u003cbr\u003e Of Yesterday’s Tomorrows\u003cbr\u003e Epitaph\u003cbr\u003e Like the Tide: Cloudward\u003cbr\u003e No Tears in the Tide\u003cbr\u003e Towards a Walk in the Sun\u003cbr\u003e The Spearhead Wind Strides\u003cbr\u003e The Gods Wrote\u003cbr\u003e The Long Reach\u003cbr\u003e The New Breed\u003cbr\u003e For Eusi, Ayi Kwei \u0026amp; Gwen Brooks\u003cbr\u003e Recreation\u003cbr\u003e Point of Departure: Fire Dance Fire Song\u003cbr\u003e I. The Elegance of Memory\u003cbr\u003e II. Lumumba Section\u003cbr\u003e III. Fire Dance\u003cbr\u003e IV. Spirits Unchained\u003cbr\u003e For Sons of Sonless Fathers\u003cbr\u003e Notes from No Sanctuary\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Present Is a Dangerous Place to Live\u003c\/i\u003e (1974, 1993)\u003cbr\u003e For Ipeleng\u003cbr\u003e The Present Is a dangerous Place to Live . . . One\u003cbr\u003e I. In the Mourning\u003cbr\u003e II. Beware of Dreams\u003cbr\u003e III. Without Shadow\u003cbr\u003e IV. Mirrors, without Song\u003cbr\u003e Mystique\u003cbr\u003e There Are No Sanctuaries except in Purposeful Action . . . Two\u003cbr\u003e 1.\u003cbr\u003e 2. When Things Fall Apart\u003cbr\u003e 3. Exile\u003cbr\u003e 4. Perception\u003cbr\u003e 5. Logistics\u003cbr\u003e . . . Three\u003cbr\u003e Blues for Some Literary Friends \u0026amp; Myself\u003cbr\u003e Home Is Where the Music Is . . . Four\u003cbr\u003e For Billie Holiday\u003cbr\u003e For Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers\u003cbr\u003e For B. B. King and Lucille\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgement\u003cbr\u003e Pro\/Creation\u003cbr\u003e For Hughie Masekela\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePlaces and Bloodstains\u003c\/i\u003e (1975)\u003cbr\u003e Requiem for My Mother\u003cbr\u003e Epitaph for Can Themba\u003cbr\u003e For Gwigwi\u003cbr\u003e For TW\u003cbr\u003e For Otis Redding\u003cbr\u003e Here We Are Like the Present\u003cbr\u003e Letter to Skunder\u003cbr\u003e For Zeke and Dennis\u003cbr\u003e For Cecil Abrahams\u003cbr\u003e After Mongane\u003cbr\u003e Son of Mokae\u003cbr\u003e Song for Ilva Mackay and Mongane\u003cbr\u003e For Montshiwa \u0026amp; Phetoe\u003cbr\u003e Open Letter\u003cbr\u003e Places and Bloodstains\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eHeartprints \u003c\/i\u003e(1980)\u003cbr\u003e Letter to Ipeleng on Her Birthday 1976\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhen the Clouds Clear\u003c\/i\u003e (1990)\u003cbr\u003e The Long Arm of the Blues\u003cbr\u003e The Same Strip of Land\u003cbr\u003e Rites of Passage\u003cbr\u003e Dance\u003cbr\u003e Morning in Tunis\u003cbr\u003e Sharper Than Any Blade You Know\u003cbr\u003e Bleeding Red\u003cbr\u003e Luthuli Detachment\u003cbr\u003e When the Clouds Clear\u003cbr\u003e Red Song\u003cbr\u003e From Now On. . . .\u003cbr\u003e For Olinka\u003cbr\u003e An Injury to One Is an Injury to All\u003cbr\u003e Every Patriot a Combatant\u003cbr\u003e Quest\u003cbr\u003e Kate\u003cbr\u003e June 16 Year of the Spear\u003cbr\u003e Chimid: A Memorial\u003cbr\u003e Seaparankoe\u003cbr\u003e Here You Almost Started\u003cbr\u003e A Luta Continua\u003cbr\u003e New Age\u003cbr\u003e Manifesto\u003cbr\u003e South Africa Salutes Uzbekistan\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eTo the Bitter End \u003c\/i\u003e(1995)\u003cbr\u003e Coil of Time\u003cbr\u003e What Time Is It?\u003cbr\u003e In the Wheeling and Dealing Time\u003cbr\u003e Rites of Passage: (1991)\u003cbr\u003e Dumalisile\u003cbr\u003e I Am\u003cbr\u003e Manboy\u003cbr\u003e When the Deal Goes Down\u003cbr\u003e Years without Tears\u003cbr\u003e Strange Rituals\u003cbr\u003e Grand Papa Dhlomo\u003cbr\u003e For David Rubadiri\u003cbr\u003e For Bra Ntemi\u003cbr\u003e Fidelity\u003cbr\u003e Montage: Bouctou Lives\u003cbr\u003e Heart to Heart\u003cbr\u003e We Are All Involved\u003cbr\u003e Even Skin Disappears\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eIf I Could Sing\u003c\/i\u003e (2002)\u003cbr\u003e Recollections\u003cbr\u003e Venceremos\u003cbr\u003e Affirmation\u003cbr\u003e Memorial\u003cbr\u003e If I Could Sing\u003cbr\u003e Renaissance\u003cbr\u003e Rejoice\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThis Way I Salute You \u003c\/i\u003e(2004)\u003cbr\u003e For Johnny Dyani\u003cbr\u003e Santamaria\u003cbr\u003e Cassandra Wilson Will Sing\u003cbr\u003e Where Her Eye Sits\u003cbr\u003e eThekwini\u003cbr\u003e For Gloria Bosman\u003cbr\u003e For Our Mother of the Heavy Names\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eHomesoil in My Blood\u003c\/i\u003e (2018)\u003cbr\u003e No Boundaries\u003cbr\u003e No Serenity Here\u003cbr\u003e Letter from Havana\u003cbr\u003e In the Naming\u003cbr\u003e Anguish Longer Than Sorrow\u003cbr\u003e Wounded Dreams\u003cbr\u003e I Am No Stranger\u003cbr\u003e We Are All Involved (2012)\u003cbr\u003e Of Shadows and Chameleons\u003cbr\u003e Festive Heart\u003cbr\u003e I Know a Few Things\u003cbr\u003e New Day\u003cbr\u003e For Fernando, Gloria, Eduardo and the 2012 Team\u003cbr\u003e For Sterling Plumpp\u003cbr\u003e For Hu Xiancheng\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Uncollected (1971)\u003cbr\u003e Carbon-Copy Whiteman or Sexual Refugee\u003cbr\u003e The Awakening\u003cbr\u003e Manifesto (1971)\u003cbr\u003e ‘Yes, Mandela, We Shall Be Moved’\u003cbr\u003e Fruitful Seed (1971)\u003cbr\u003e Freedom Train, 1965\u003cbr\u003e Introduction to a Future History Book\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Source Acknowledgments\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  ","brand":"University of Nebraska Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49409230930263,"sku":"9781496221155","price":17.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781496221155.jpg?v=1730506058","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/keorapetse-kgositsile-9781496221155","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}