ODO YE 'Wu: Love Is Till Death: Love Is Till Death

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe Jr.

Critical Praise for Okoampa-Ahoofe's Poetry

"Okoampa-Ahoofe has a profound respect for language and the use of words. His works reflect a very patient craftsman choosing words to express his thought, chiseling and re-chiseling to get to the right meaning, tone, color, etc "
-Yusef Salaam, The New York Amsterdam News

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Feb 25, 2005
• ISBN: 9780595793945

Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe Jr.

The first recipient of the 1988 John J. Reyne Artistic Achievement Award for English Poetry at New York City College, where he earned his bachelor?s degree (summa cum laude) in English, Communications and African-American Studies, Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., was born and raised in Ghana. He teaches English and Journalism at Nassau Community College of the State University of New York, Garden City. A graduate with Master?s and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Temple University, Philadelphia, Okoampa-Ahoofe regularly writes political and cultural columns for the Accra Daily Mail, Ghanaweb.com, Africa-Forum.Net, AfricaNewsAnalysis.com, as well as occasional book reviews and commentary for the New York Beacon and the Ghanaian Chronicle. He is married and has a daughter.

Book preview

ODO YE ’WU

LOVE IS TILL DEATH

KWAME OKOAMPA-AHOOFE, JR.

iUniverse, Inc.

New York Lincoln Shanghai

ODO YE ’WU

LOVE IS TILL DEATH

Copyright © 2005 by Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any

means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION

Seasonal Changes

A Woman’s Hair

Old Flame

Memories (Awo Boatemaa)

Feast of Earth

Old Flames and Haunts

A Matter of Love

Crisis

Jokes and Ghosts

Crape Song

The Smell

Familiarity

Lingering Shadows

Origin of Lust

Devotion

Sister Mwelwa

Lay off My Samba

Fiery Flames

Vercil (Beauty and Truth)

Walking and Chewing (All) at Once

No Place for Romance

I Will Not Be Fucked!

Roadside Motel

Armageddon

Songs

Outercourse

Tennille

Linette

Lucifer’s Sister

Sylvia Lewine

Indian Woman

Eve and Eve

Manhood

Janet

Janet II

Resolutions

Shipwreck

Recovery

House-cleaning

Crush

Annunciation

American Tsunami

Nicole D.

Debbie

Drilling

Quickie

End of Love

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

For my wife:

Mama Afua Oye

(a.k.a. Dolly Doris Nyanyo-Mensah)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

I should like to recognize the following relatives, friends and colleagues who have enriched my life, in various ways, over the years:

Drs. Nana and Abu S. Abarry, Rev.-Prof. Kofi Asare-Opoku, Messrs. Kwabena Akyeampong, William K. Egyir, Evans Kwaku Owusu Nyama, Kwaku Oduro and Mike Altman, my Publishing Services Associate at iUniverse, Inc.

Also: Dr. Harold Bellinger, Profs. Charles Owusu, Ralph Nazareth, Chris Schw-ertman and Joseph Dowling; Maame Yaa Adowaa and Opanyin Yaw Sarkodie; Mr. And Mrs. Kwasi and Serena Ohene, Mr. And Mrs. Walter and Miatta Smith; Profs. Nicholas Birns and Mary Boe Birns.

And: Adwoa Okoampa-Ahoofe and Dr. Kwame N. Amoh, Abena Y. and Eric Baning, Yaa A. and Frank Sykes and Samuel Odoi-Sykes II, Helen Amoako-Opoku, Frederick Asare-Henaku, Obaapanyin Grace Ofosuaa-Henaku, DSP (Rtd.) Kwame Henaku, Mr. Richard Nyanyo-Mensah and Mrs. Comfort Nyanyo-Mensah, Chief-Inspector Chenard Kwame Sintim-Aboagye, Grace Sin-tim-Aboagye, Rosemund Ahene, Kurt Bromley Sintim, Rev.-Col. (Rtd.) E. B. B. Sintim and Mrs. Beatrice O. A. Sintim.

INTRODUCTION 

This book, like all of its predecessors, is a labor of love; it, however, differs strik-ingly from its predecessors in that OdoYe ’Wu: Love Is Till Death highlights the grave conjugal undertaking that is the essence of the well-considered, and well-thought-out, marriage. It is, thus, a cautionary note to those intent on con-jugal embarkation.