Kwame Dawes is not a native Nebraskan. Born in Ghana, he later moved to Jamaica, where he spent most of his childhood and early adulthood. In 1992 he relocated to the United States and eventually found himself an American living in Lincoln, Nebraska.
In Nebraska, this beautiful and evocative collection of poems, Dawes explores a theme constant in his work--the intersection of memory, home, and artistic invention. The poems, set against the backdrop of Nebraska's discrete cycle of seasons, are meditative even as they search for a sense of place in a new landscape. While he shovels snow or walks in the bitter cold to his car, he is engulfed with memories of Kingston, yet when he travels, he finds himself longing for the open space of the plains and the first snowfall.
With a strong sense of place and haunting memories, Dawes grapples with life in Nebraska as a transplant.
Victoria Chang is a poet, writer, and critic.
This week’s NYT poem is “Advent” by Kwame Dawes. The poem is from the book Nebraska. https://t.co/56tDVJxgEe
Nonprofit press publishing new and extraordinary voices from the American South. Tweets by @kateamcmullen & @megireid.
We’re highlighting our Black authors every week in Black History Month. Sharing some poems with y’all on this very sunny Monday! Check out @ALPoetLaureate @wildandincolor @DekineSoul and our 2011 anthology edited by Kwame Dawes at https://t.co/yoeGYCiDbb. https://t.co/OlFwVQM9IW
We expand minds with a liberal arts education in the humanities, sciences and social sciences. Let curiosity move you to the College of Arts and Sciences.
Bravo 🏆 to Kwame Dawes of @unlenglish for winning @NarrativeMag's Fourteenth Annual #Poetry Contest! Announcement: https://t.co/7nf2wH6wEN Poems published in Narrative: https://t.co/fBnNPeWkUZ #UNL https://t.co/dZb0HAgvob