His most consistent collaborator in these projects has been the poet and musician Kevin Simmonds. Through the years, Dawes has collaborated with musicians and artists to create a dynamic series of performances based on his poetry that have proven to be some of the most compelling and challenging presentations of poetry being performed today. Dawes was a winner of a Pushcart Prize for the best American poetry of 2001 for his long poem, “Inheritance.” The poem was later selected as part of the anthology celebrating thirty years of Pushcart Prize winners. His book, Midland, was awarded the Hollis Summers Poetry Prize by the Ohio University Press (2001). Other poetry collections include Resisting the Anomie (Goose Lane, 1995) Prophets (Peepal Tree, 1995) Jacko Jacobus, (Peepal Tree, 1996) and Requiem, (Peepal Tree, 1996), a suite of poems inspired by the illustrations of African American artist, Tom Feelings in his landmark book, Middle Passage: White Ships/Black Cargo and Shook Foil (Peepal Tree, 1998), a collection of reggae-inspired poems. Progeny of Air (Peepal Tree, 1994) was the winner of the Forward Poetry Prize for Best First Collection in the UK.

Of his seventeen collections of poetry, his most recent titles include Duppy Conqueror (Copper Canyon, 2013) Wheels (2011) Back of Mount Peace (2009) Hope’s Hospice (2009) Wisteria, finalist for the Patterson Memorial Prize Impossible Flying (2007) and Gomer’s Song (2007). As a poet, he is profoundly influenced by the rhythms and textures of that lush place, citing in an interview his “spiritual, intellectual, and emotional engagement with reggae music.” Indeed, his book Bob Marley: Lyrical Genius remains the most authoritative study of the lyrics of Bob Marley. He is a writer of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and plays. Born in Ghana in 1962, Kwame Dawes moved to Jamaica in 1971 and spent most of his childhood and early adult life in Jamaica.

Then she was gone barnes and noble