Branches of the Tree of Life: The Collected Poems of Abiodun Oyewole 1969-2013
by Abiodun Oyewole

Branches of the Tree of Life is the first comprehensive volume of poems by Abiodun Oyewole, many of them never before published. Oyewole’s poems are powerful, often political, always lyrical and profoundly moving. Over the course of his forty year career and his long affiliation with The Last Poets, Oyewole is one of several poets credited for liberating American poetry by creating open, vocal, spontaneous, energetic and uncensored vernacular verse that paved the way for spoken word and Hip Hop. Using the spiritual, the sacred and the mystical, Oyewole often turns to the tree as a symbol of change and growth. His poetry rebranches into different directions, becoming grandeur in its proportions, and more complexly diversified in its structure. Branches of the Tree of Life is a living testament to a stunning career that confirms Abiodun Oyewole’s place at the forefront of poetic achievement. Featuring an Introduction by Betty J. Dopson.