Maya Angelou: The Poetic Mistiness of Death

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• Brother 11 years ago

  The life of these Heroines we must behold and just as our quest to be special will always make us ordinary, our passion should be to lighten a burden and light the fire. Brother Kwateng, I admire your dexterity with most subj ...
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  The life of these Heroines we must behold and just as our quest to be special will always make us ordinary, our passion should be to lighten a burden and light the fire. Brother Kwateng, I admire your dexterity with most subjects that you tap into for your presentations and I realized I must not just remain updated only in my field but stretch out as you are doing. I am emboldened reading your background and the things you are able to stretch out and do now. Our country is full of mediocrity and yet we have so many good people who will only be useful abroad. We do not even have any passions except money in what ever way. Any way let no one call me 'Francis Kwateng' because I am not. I have not stretched out as he has. I have not written well researched pieces as he has been doing and I am in Ghana.

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• Kwesi Mensah 11 years ago

  No big Ghana funeral for Maya Angelou. She lives among the great pantheon of great poets, and amongst us here in Ghana!
  
  Maya Angelou lived in Ghana in the early 60's, one of the many Diasporic Africans who repatriated to G ...
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  No big Ghana funeral for Maya Angelou. She lives among the great pantheon of great poets, and amongst us here in Ghana!
  
  Maya Angelou lived in Ghana in the early 60's, one of the many Diasporic Africans who repatriated to Ghana to help in the building of the nation after its ground-breaking independence. She taught at the University of Ghana and also as a journalist. She left in 1964 after meeting Malcolm X during his visit to Ghana and deciding to return to the US to help his organization.
  
  We were blessed with her presence. We are blessed with her Spirit. Hopefully , the University of Ghana will finally find some time away from Shakespeare, Chaucer, Yeats, Milton and all its revered Eurocentric scholarship to honour this great daughter of Africa!

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• Nana Ansah 11 years ago

  Death is philosophically speaking spiritually akin to life then as the saying goes "From the second we are born we start dying, so this isn't life- it's death"
  
  See folks, Ghana was the place to be for all of “Afro Ameri ...
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  Death is philosophically speaking spiritually akin to life then as the saying goes "From the second we are born we start dying, so this isn't life- it's death"
  
  See folks, Ghana was the place to be for all of “Afro American community” as it was referred to those days now African-American. They came from West Indies, America and UK in their numbers to help build this great country, the first independent nation in sub-Sahara of Africa.. We had black medical doctors from the West Indies to assist us before the founding of the medical school at Korle Bu. At the time of our independence Ghana had only a handful of medical practitioners and not a single industrial factory after over hundred years of British rule.
  
  Our beloved country Ghana was the center and vanguard of liberation movements. Maya Angelou was one of the many from the social movements who settled in Ghana in 1961 and taught drama, dance and music at the University of Ghana Legon. The University of Ghana will do well if she honours Maya Angelou posthumously before her memorial service on June 7th 2014. She was also a columnist for the Ghanaian times during her 4 years stay in Ghana. Before she left Ghana she was fluent in Fanti language a little Ga. During her sojourn in Ghana, Malcolm X visited Ghana twice in the sixties and eventually persuaded her to join their fight for black freedom in America. Sadly, she only met the assassination of Malcolm X shortly after she returned. MLK engaged her and she became the spearhead of the women voice in the civil rights movement with Angela Davis in LA.
  
  Maya Angelou was supernatural talent of her trade. She made poetry look like a child’s play. Both contemporary witness and posterity will always remember Maya Angelou for her inspiring contribution in Art and her tireless social work in the advancement of mankind.
  
  Now I know why the caged Bird Sings thanks to Maya Angelou. Rest in eternal peace soul sister.
  
  
  PS: Great stuff there! Francis Kwarteng, you are the man. Big up mate!

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• francis kwarteng 11 years ago

  Dear Great Brothers,
  
  Good day to you all. You have said a lot of great things about our great sister, Maya Angelou.
  
  To Brother, I will not respond to GIRLS SP. That said, you have not disappointed those of us who truly ...
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  Dear Great Brothers,
  
  Good day to you all. You have said a lot of great things about our great sister, Maya Angelou.
  
  To Brother, I will not respond to GIRLS SP. That said, you have not disappointed those of us who truly love the African world and hope to see Ghana and Africa move in the right direction. I love you dearly!
  
  To Nana Ansah, I just love you greatly. You are an intellectual soldier yourself. A true Nkrumahist. Big up.
  
  To Kwesi Mensah, thanks for your kind words. You have said some of the important things that need to be said about Sister Maya Angelou. I love you too.
  
  Let us keep the fire burning. Have a great week.
  
  Love you all, Brothers. I will pray for GIRLS SP. He is not someone whose commments I pay serious attention to, as he does not read my articles.
  
  Thanks.

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• GIRLS SP 11 years ago

  I HAVE TOLD YOU MANY TIMES THAT THIS KWARTENG GUY IS A FOOLISH BOY WHO WILL START TO WRITE ANY NONSENSE AT ANYTIME. I DON'T THINK HE, KWARTENG UNDERSTANDS WHAT HE WRITES.

  I HAVE TOLD YOU MANY TIMES THAT THIS KWARTENG GUY IS A FOOLISH BOY WHO WILL START TO WRITE ANY NONSENSE AT ANYTIME. I DON'T THINK HE, KWARTENG UNDERSTANDS WHAT HE WRITES.

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• Brother 11 years ago

  Brother Kwateng should not dignify this childishness with a responds. Of course he is not a boy like you Girls SP. You don't even know what he is writing about so it sounds foolish to you.

  Brother Kwateng should not dignify this childishness with a responds. Of course he is not a boy like you Girls SP. You don't even know what he is writing about so it sounds foolish to you.

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• Fiwisintin 11 years ago

  My Brother,
  
  Talking about GIRLS SP, I think the two “carrots” you dangle before her/him are the names: JB Danquah and KA Busia. At their mention, out she/he comes growling! Indeed, words are “things” that have gre ...
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  My Brother,
  
  Talking about GIRLS SP, I think the two “carrots” you dangle before her/him are the names: JB Danquah and KA Busia. At their mention, out she/he comes growling! Indeed, words are “things” that have great influence and power over us living beings; hence, we must use them tactfully if/when we are conscious of our actions. Matters of the heart don’t count! In such an event, neither head, nor logic is around when most needed. Therefore, not being perfect, it’s safe to say that at one time or other, everyone of us has been guilty of misrepresenting him/herself with words. So be it - we live to learn!

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• francis kwarteng 11 years ago

  Dear Fiwisintin,
  
  You sound like Maya Angelou yourself.
  
  Anyway, are you being merely poetically frank with your beautiful words? I am trying to make sense out of the words 'logic," "head," "matters of the heart," etc.
  ...
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  Dear Fiwisintin,
  
  You sound like Maya Angelou yourself.
  
  Anyway, are you being merely poetically frank with your beautiful words? I am trying to make sense out of the words 'logic," "head," "matters of the heart," etc.
  
  You have a way with words, you know. I am smiling reading this!
  
  Thanks.

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• abra kuma 11 years ago

  After her ordeal at the age of eight, I imagine her inner turmoil; how much she must have castigated herself, this anguished “caged bird” yet, mercifully,Maya Angelou arose sober
  from her scathing, sad song to later bec ...
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  After her ordeal at the age of eight, I imagine her inner turmoil; how much she must have castigated herself, this anguished “caged bird” yet, mercifully,Maya Angelou arose sober
  from her scathing, sad song to later become a true leader whose writing shakes many a Black somnambulant awake, dragging us from a vacuum of despondency to higher spiritual awareness: our mutual responsibility in elevating Ourselves and Our Peoples. Another Queen of Africa who flaunted Black and made us proud! Yes, she said it huskily, she said it loud, she said it black,and she said it clear. A proud Daughter of the Soil!
  Maya Angelou has sung and done, thankfully we shall continue to sing her praises, celebrating her physical life as we send her off into a jubilating world of our Ancestors. Go, Maya go! To Our Exalted Ancestors, go! To Our Illustrious Nations Past! Go Maya, go!

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