In his poem “The Sea Eats the Land at Home”, Kofi Awoonor

invites the reader to experience the thoughts and feelings people go

through after an unexpected tsunami hits their town. Throughout the
poem, Kofi Awoonor manages to show these feelings of loss and despair
in different situations by using various techniques which are developed
all along the poem.

To begin with, as the poem opens, the persona describes how the
sea invades the houses and its parts, taking with it, every valuable
possession people had. This is conveyed with the words, “At home the
sea is in the town, Running in and out of the cooking places, Collecting
the firewood from the hearths…” This visual image cearly explores the
sense of loss as the sea takes over the town. Moreover, this idea of loss
is reinforced when the poet hints at the idea that not only possessions
had been taken away by the sea, but also the people's daily routines.
This metaphor is depicted as the poet uses the words, “It came one day
at the dead of night, Destroying the cement walls, And carried away the
fowls, The cooking-pots and the ladles, The sea eats the land at
home…” This other visual image shows how the cooking materials,
which are used on a daily basis are now gone, underscoring the idea
that the people's routines had been carried away along with the sea.

Furthermore, as the poem develops, the reactions of the residents

are shown as the sea begins to invade their homes. The poem conveys
people's desperation to be saved by describing their shouts and pain as
they mourn. These feelings are perceived by the readers by Kofi
Awoonor´s wise choice of words and phrases as seen in the following
lines, “the mourning shouts of the women, “above the sobs and the deep
and low moans” the author shows how despair is conquering the place
by the use of auditory images. By these, the readers feel sympathy for
the people who are living in that situation. In addition, this despair is also
explored when the author describes how people begin to pray for
salvation and how they also feel alone and betrayed by their gods when
they don't receive any help. This idea is illustrated by the use of the
following verse, “Calling on all the gods they worship” “Her gods have
deserted her.” This reference to god manages to express the level of
worry and misery of the situation as people began to rely on superior
forces.

All in all, throughout the poem we can see how the author
successfully expresses the real and raw emotions people feel while
coping with a catastrophe and its consequences. Kofi Awoonor uses
very powerful techniques and words to show this sense of loss and
despair that runs through each person's body and mind.