Abstract:
The question which inevitably arises whenever a prolific poet like Kofi
Anyidoho publishes a new collection is: “So what is new here?” But
perhaps before we confront that issue, it is useful to step back for a
moment, rather like the Husago dancer that the poet is always invoking,
to consider why the writing, the reading and, for us in the academic
community, the study of poetry is a worthwhile activity. Poetry offers
images which define emotively and felicitously our condition as human
beings in a family, a nation and the world. A sociologist can write a
paper supported with statistics on the “problem” of street children in
urban Ghana. In comparison, a poet will offer an image of the anguish
etched on the face of one imagined street child, and the emotional power
of the poet’s picture may well be more instrumental than the sociological
essay in a national campaign against the proliferation of street children.
However, let us not get simple-minded. We are not saying we should
throw out sociology in favour of poetry. What we are suggesting is that
poetry should be an essential part of the way we look at and understand
ourselves as human beings – bearing in mind that not all poetry is good.
Anyidoho’s poetry has been most valuable in helping us see ourselves in
powerful and quite unforgettable ways. Consider the picture of the rich
relatives of the poor man in “The Dance of the Hunchback” who will not
spend a penny to assist him, but on his death are quite ready to honour
him with a lavish funeral. The fact that the people of this country will
often waste on funerals money they will not spend to assist the needy
living is well-known, but the poet speaks of it in language that imprints
powerfully on our minds the folly of our ways. We feel the pathos of
the hunchback’s dirge for his brother and sympathize with the sad-funny
image of him as he tries to perform his ungainly dance for the departed.
