Maybe that is the power of poetry. It somehow transcends news cycles, and becomes a part of our collective imagination. That is the beauty of the art form I like to play with. — Kwame Dawes Copy Share Image
The rich and complex history of South Carolina is the history of the African diaspora, and in many ways, I felt acutely the sense of this collective memory of migration, suffering and transformation while living in South Carolina. — Kwame Dawes Copy Share Image
I believe that many lives around us now can reflect this strange pattern of migration and movement. The question is: are we aware of it, and do we embrace it as a kind of birthright? I do. And yet, I feel deeply connected to at least two homespaces - Jamaica and Ghana, and more recently, South Carolina. — Kwame Dawes Copy Share
Rick Black writes with the honed elegance of a poet so in command of lyric sentiment and the efficient evocative use of language that… — Kwame Dawes Copy Share Image
In reggae I have a model of artistic excellence and possibility that is challenging and inspiring. The poem remains a demanding thing - an… — Kwame Dawes Copy Share Image
When people open up and share their stories, you have a responsibility to tell these truths truthfully and with the same quest for grace… — Kwame Dawes Copy Share Image
Latino poets, are really having a significant impact on American poetics today. — Kwame Dawes Copy Share Image
For me, reggae music and its aesthetic are touchstones in both simple and complex ways. Reggae's capacity to be a folk music that is… — Kwame Dawes Copy Share Image
With Head Off & Split, Nikky Finney establishes herself as one of the most eloquent, urgent, fearless and necessary poets writing in America today.… — Kwame Dawes Copy Share Image
HIV is no respecter of persons. Any of us could find ourselves with the disease, and then what? We tend to stigmatize as a… — Kwame Dawes Copy Share Image
