Though the poems have humor in them (“I guess you could say I’ve a call”), it is gallows humor. They carry little of the playfulness that is contained in most poetry.

Indeed, one might say that all of the poems in I Come From a Country (Africa World Press; $16.95), even those like “Washington” that take place in the U.S., are rooted in The Gambia, which is ...

Sometimes I grow impatient — I need someone to tell me exactly what I should know so I can extinguish the slow burn of reading poetry. Even my compulsion to know the why to things sometimes leads me ...

He's the author of seven previous poetry collections, including Ardency: A Chronicle Of The Amistad Rebels and Jelly Roll: A Blues, which was a finalist for the National Book Award.

A wind is ruffling the tawny peltOf Africa, Kikuyu, quick as flies,Batten upon the bloodstreams of the veldt.Corpses are scattered through a paradise.Only the worm, colonel of carrion, cries ...