Sing This One Back to Me

By Bob Holman

From West Africa to NYC, the oral tradition comes alive through collaborative storytelling of Holman and legendary griot Papa Susso.

An epilogue to Bob Holman's travels to West Africa to discover the roots of spoken word, hip-hop, and the oral tradition, this collection is a celebration of language and its power to make us see. Building on his transcription of the Griot poems sung to him by West African legend Papa Susso, Holman uses verse as another lens for experiencing visual art ("Van Gogh's Violin") and as a vehicle for sharing his own intimate history. The landscape shifts, and grief makes itself evident, as do those very necessary, sneaky, ecstatic reminders of life's continuing possibility for joy.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1566893259
• ISBN13: 9781566893251
• Release Date: April 2013
• Publisher: Coffee House Press
• Length: 164 Pages
• Weight: 0.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.5" x 8.1"