An African Poetry Roundtable at OGOV

There is a really nice poetry called One Ghana One Voice which I have been following for more than a year. I have been doing more than following; I have contributed my poems, have participated in previous roundtable discussions, and I also serve as their Writer's Service editor or advisor. Let's start with last role: I receive poems by email directly from the poets, then I read and annotate the peoms with my suggestions, which sometimes are simply highlights of lines, stanzas, etc, that I did not find interesting.

The poets are given the option to ignore my comments if they wish, but those who go ahead and make revisions always make me feel proud that I have contributed something to the OGOV mission of discovering new poetry talent. On this note, all poets are invited to utilize this service. This is a voluntary gig for me, so I may take longer than you like to give my feedback. Although I use my expertise as a poetry teacher to make suggestions on the manuscripts, my comments are at best subjective and can be ignored.

Just remember that if something in your poem causes me to stop reading, chances are that most readers out there may be affected similarly. I usually treat content and craft equally, and will tell you what works and what kills the poem.

OGOV is updated every Saturday. This week's post is a Roundtable discusion on the topic: "What makes good poetry and who decides it?" The editor of OGOV, Rob Taylor, who is featured in the current issue of Munyori Literary Journal, has this to say about the current discussion:

Our fifth roundtable discussion here at OGOV is notably different than our first four, in that this one took place spontaneously in the comment section of last week's post. The conversation was born out of an original critique by Mutombo of some poetry on this site which he deemed "too bare", and the subsequent question by Reggie Kyere, "What makes good poetry and who decides it?".

Obviously, this question can have thousands of different answers and move in thousands of different directions, but the conversation thus far has focused on issues of form, freedom of expression, negritude, and what makes a poem "African". Where it goes next is up to you! We've copied the pertinent comments from last week's post here for a quick catch-up for those who missed the original discussion. We have also added, sprinkled throughout (in blue), some quotations by poets and critics on the given themes, in order to further spur thought and discussion. These quotations have been included in our "Time with the Philosophers" archive, which contains many more similar quotes.

I have contributed my thoughts on the topic. A nice place to stop by and share your comments.