Woman, Eat Me Whole: Poems

Written by Ama Asantewa Diaka

Narrated by Ama Asantewa Diaka

A bold, mesmerizing debut collection exploring womanhood, the body, mental illness, and what it means to move between cultures 

Renowned for her storytelling and spoken-word artistry, Ama Asantewa Diaka is also an exultant, fierce, and visceral poet whose work leaves a lasting impact.

Touching on themes from perceptions of beauty to the betrayals of the body, from what it means to give consent to how we grapple with demons internal and external, Woman, Eat Me Whole is an entirely fresh and powerful look at womanhood and personhood in a shifting world. Moving between Ghana and the United States, Diaka probes those countries’ ever-changing cultural expectations and norms while investigating the dislocation and fragmentation of a body—and a mind—so often restless or ill at ease.

Vivid and bodily while also deeply cerebral, Woman, Eat Me Whole is a searing debut collection from a poet with an inimitable voice and vision. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Apr 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9780063092945

Ama Asantewa Diaka

Ama Asantewa Diaka is a Ghanaian poet, storyteller, and spoken word artist who performs as Poetra Asantewa. She is the author of the chapbook, You Too Will Know Me, and the debut poetry collection, Woman, Eat Me Whole, and her poems and fiction have appeared in print and online. She recently completed an MFA at the Art Institute of Chicago. She lives in Ghana.

Reviews for Woman, Eat Me Whole

[Emefa Anka · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Words, good for the soul. I enjoyed reading this poetry.

[Kalu Esther · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I never really thought of the mother of that little lad with five loaves of bread and three fish in the Bible, till I listened to this book. And it's true, without her, the miracle of feeding the five thousand wouldn't have happened. Imagine if she didn't pack her son's lunch that day.

This is a beautiful poetry collection about what it means to be a woman, with all our scars and beauty and trauma. And trying so hard to be ourselves in a world that works overtime in trying to make us into what it feels like we should be, and not what we really are. A world that delights in seeing us shriveling and toning down our achievements.