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Book Cover for: Gomer's Song, Kwame Dawes

Gomer's Song

Kwame Dawes

Gomer's Song is a contemporary reinterpretation of a Bible story. Gomer, a harlot, was the wife of the Old Testament prophet Hosea. But even after her marriage to Hosea, she refused to conform to her expected role. In Gomer, poet Kwame Dawes finds the subject for a beautiful contemporary exploration on the cost of arriving at freedom with an uneasy grace.

Dawes examines the insidious nature of power, the expectations of gender roles, and the limits of protest. Through Gomer's journey, we are asked to consider how each one of us must articulate not only our own defiance, but tally the costs of earning our individuality. Gomer's Song is a great fable for finding our humanity in the confusion of a post-9/11 world. This is tender a book with profound lyrical insights.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Akashic Books, Ltd.
  • Publish Date: Sep 1st, 2007
  • Pages: 96
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.88in - 6.19in - 0.27in - 0.29lb
  • EAN: 9781933354446
  • Categories: American - GeneralCaribbean & Latin AmericanAfrican

About the Author

Dawes, Kwame: - KWAME DAWES is the author of numerous books of poetry and other works of fiction, criticism, and essays. His most recent poetry collection, Sturge Town, was published by Peepal Tree Press in the UK and W. W. Norton in the US. Dawes is a professor of Literary Arts at Brown University. He also teaches in the Pacific MFA Program and is the series editor of the African Poetry Book Series, director of the African Poetry Book Fund, and artistic director of the Calabash International Literary Festival. He is a Chancellor for the Academy of American Poets and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Dawes is the winner of the prestigious Windham-Campbell Prize for Poetry and was a finalist for the 2022 Neustadt International Prize for Literature. In 2022, Kwame Dawes was awarded the Order of Distinction Commander Class by the Government of Jamaica, and in 2024, he was appointed Poet Laureate of Jamaica.

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Praise for this book

As someone who professes to be a writer, I'm struck dumb by Kwame Dawes's pinpoint and devastating lyricism and the unflinching assurance of each and every stanza. These gems, threaded with mesmerizing narrative, exhibit both unbridled imagination and a lean technical mastery, a combination that Dawes's fans rely on. This is the kind of work writers strive for. This is Dawes at the pinnacle of what he does.--Patricia Smith, author of Teahouse of the Almighty