Category: POETRY

FAR APART

If cold winds can call your presence
…from your absence
..to my presence
And stop biting me with longing for you
I will live better
…without feeling the miles which knot like ropes
…to hang our lust in our days apart

II
If nights will stop the frights
…of the emptiness that this huge bed poses
And stop showing the thorns of distance
…between you and I
I will cherish the memories
…which turn channels of unfulfilled needs
And have my shadows play your company

III
But time talks touches
…which can tickle giggles
The dark ghosts a host
…who can work a boasting
Silence whispers a voice
…which can smite boredom
The ceiling shows visions of actions missing
Closed eyes open the cinema of my mind
…which shows videos of our missions
…being murdered by time
Miles pile vile dials
…which never get you here

IV
So I keep staring at your imagination
…on the ceiling
I keep seeing your pictures
…on the bedside table
Your form keeps forming
…on the floor
It gets worse at the empty side of the bed
…at the doors which promise your production
…by lying through their keyholes
And when I look at the wardrobe
…it plays tricks of hiding you
I keep staring
I just keep staring everywhere
…like one freshly admitted into the dorm of insanity

V
This is what miles have piled on me
As we live under same suns
…same moons
…same skies
Holding onto the rope of love
…far stretched by distance
Placing us in two worlds
…far apart
To feel the unfair burns of loneliness
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © October 16, 2019

WHERE DO I GO?

Where do I go from you?
When your looks
…book me confusion
Your smiles
…blind me in illusion
Your hugs
…buy me commotion
…of loss in your warmth
Where do I go?
Just where do I go from you?

II
Where do I go from you?
When you are the house
…I hope to build
The home
…I wish to return to
The hope
…I need restored
The heart
…I yearn to live in
Where do I go to?
Just where do I go from you?

III
My heart is no student
…of my head
…to sit and listen to its reasoning
My eyes are no slaves
…of my mind
…to bow and close to your presence
Even my thoughts
…pace like cars in races
…in the mind that should be ruling
All in demonstration to have you
Where do I go to?
Where do I go from you?

IV
I may be a mate in your bait
I may be a lie in your sly
I may be an ant in your can’t
I may be the ark in your dark
But I am a beating heart
…with heating hopes
…lured by your charms
So where do I go to?
Just where do I go from you
…if you push me to the land of rejection?
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © October 15, 2019

CHA TO CHA

Preacher –
If my mama couldn’t reach me
And my papa couldn’t teach me
Please don’t preach me
…and turn around to act leach
…to bleach my pocket into tatters

Ib
If you need a socket to charge your pocket
…bribe me with no locket
For I am a rocket which blasts such pockets
If you need a dam to source your electrickcity
I am a harm which lights no such city

Ic
The world was better until your cluster
Which now litter to shatter
…thanks to your brain batter

II
Culture –
If you can’t nurture me
Then don’t torture me
Your punctures and ruptures of lectures
…build no structures of mine
Nature’s stature sprinkles freedom in growth
How your gestures restructure
…minds to torture
Model beasts in carnivorous feasts

IIb
So Culture
Tame your nature
And respect your stature
So I can grow my stature through my nature without your preacher’s risky reach
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © October 14, 2019

REST THEM BREASTS

Buy them breaks!
Block not their breathes!
Beast not their betters!
Bake not their best!
Rest them breasts to bless them chests!

II
You who stretch them
…like wretches needing a squeezing assembly
You who stand them
Like falling plantain needing soldier sticks stands!
You who suffocate them
…like naughty twins needing mouths in cover!
You who poison them
…like energiless youth needing some dope!
You who hold them
…like life prisoners needing no release!
Rest them breasts to bless them chests!

III
Panic not to bother them in shame
Let no fear blast them like stones in quarries
For the young will definitely grow
…as the tick tocks
The standing will sit in rest
The sitting will sleep in rest
Life’s stages should call no rages of cages
…for those orangey pots
Rest them breasts to bless them chests

IV
And oh –
…do check them
To know if a foe has thrown a bow
…of cancer
…in their hearts
Do inspect them
…to clear all threats
…playing some stunts
…around and in
You can cross out a cancer
And protect your babies
So they can age in grace with you
Just rest them breasts to bless them chests
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © October 13, 2019
It is Pink October. Be sure to get a check up. Sleep in no braziers and free them tatters

LISA’S VISA

Lisa thought she had gotten a visa to riches
By wedding onto a comfortable bedding
Her bragging and doggy greeting
with fingers acting pianists in the air
…could be seen even by the blind
Driving all spinsters mad with bad jealousy

II
Hers was acting boss to clean
…and taking off dross to dance for daddy
But daddy’s okro
…couldn’t do foko
And his time allotted her
…was nothing even Ananse’s binoculars
…could see on a pie chart
Still, she tried keeping her sweats
…in the fur of riches
…reminding herself of the security it brings

III
A year hopped onto its quadruple next
No seed sent a text
…talk less visited her womb
Her expensive make-up couldn’t cover
…the tensions from corners
In laws screamed and threatened
Hubby puffed and shrugged
Friends teased and gossiped
Doctors assured of her function
Until she hatched a plan to redeem her face

IV
Lisa visited Koo Mpapa and begged him to act farmer
…to plant just a seedling in her garden
As the planting was nearing the end
A thick tall soldier woman walked in on them
And beat the hell out of both
With her bruises, Lisa went home with a red lie
“Some thieves attacked me o
Yieeee! Aoooo! My ribs”

V
Hubby called in a doctor
But before he could come in
The soldier woman dragged Koo Mpapa to her compound
To announce the sin and to warn
Lisa knew her fate could not be saved
With her things packed in a modern suitcase
She was thrown out without a pesewa
The cloudless sky compounded her plight
…by raining cats and dogs

VI
Having no where to go
She decided on visiting her Maame Sɔfo
…to intercede on her behalf
She met hubby’s car at her compound
Thanking her stars, she walked into her hall
…without a call
Hubby was using Maame Sɔfo as his hobby
Waist play on display
None bothered to panic
…her presence exaggerated their fake moans
Agyawaadwo!

VII
Even tears deserted her
She decided to go back to her village
When she reached home
…everyone had gathered, crying their hearts out
Lisa’s mother and father had died in an accident
The car her ex hubby bought them collided with a Tipper Truck
Lisa collapsed

VIII
Three moons walked past her
…pushing her troubles to their peers
With no skill and more bills
She felt like death could fix her
But cowardice dangled pain in her mind
With just two mud houses and a shared plot for farming
Even one meal posed a big deal
Until she felt dizzy and fell one afternoon

IX
The area nurse was called
…she pronounced that Lisa was
…with a three moon seed
She had not known her hubby for five moons
Koo Mpapa’s planting planted the fruit
Ei!

X
With society pointing their fingers at her
She began thinking so hard
…until some of the wiring in her head snapped
Taking the burden of dressing
…and begging off her
Affording her smiles and laughters without causes

XI
Take heed and learn from Lisa’s visa
You who want short routes
Of being swallowed by a waist python
Thinking its womb a bed of roses without thorns
Your sweats’ breath will yield and equip at you will
…no matter the trouble
“Ours” seldom rushes to save
…in troubled waters
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © October 13, 2019

EGOPRIDIC GHOSTS

We are in this doom fence
Nursing fear of separation
With rains of vulnerability falling into the konkura
…of our heads
While our faces mask the opposite
…in deviance

II
We’re in these emotional whirlwinds
Digging dust to blind each other
…in our troubled tracks
When unspoken words ghost our unhappiness
…with heartbreaking sadness
How crumbs of dissatisfaction piled
…into heaps of filth
…to clog the flow of communication
…in the gutters of our pride
Still baffles me
Why can’t our mouths speak the truths in our hearts?

III
Your ego eggs my pride to the happy view of others
My pride stones your ego to the chatty excitement of others
But we’re the ones who’ll lose the kisses
…feel the misses
…and face the hisses and their attending disses
Why can’t we see?

IV
There is no delicious dish egos and pride cook
…in relationships
There are no real wishes I-must-win grants
…in love
There is no bliss at the end of embarrassing schemes
Why can’t we see?
Why can’t we see?

V
What will be more painful
Will be the needing of each other
After we ruin us in front of all
With our eyes sent by our hearts in calling
Our bodies weak by the whips of yearning
As our relations battle in an unmendable war
To bomb all hope of revival

VI
Still, we’re here
A place so unfair
Knowing the ditches our bitching is digging
Seeing the culture of a future of rupture with no promising rapture
Knowing we’ll be consumed
…so consumed
…by the fire that the fuel of pride
…and the flames of ego
……lights,
…but still walking into that hell shell
…knowing so well the lack of quenching well
…thereof
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © October 12, 2019

AKUKU-ADAMFOƆ

Na ɔmama abɔ mma
…ama ɔnam a, na n’abati ɛɛto ahantan nnwom
Efirisɛ na obu ne ho okukudam
N’ɛnso wɔn a wɔhyɛ n’ase nyinaa buu no okuku-ɔdamfoɔ nnyɛ nɛ

II
Wo bisa sɛ ɛdeɛn ntira?
Ɛneɛ tie ɛ
Ɔde suahunu ɛkɔtena suatera dua ase
…de pia pia nsukɔnoma kɔ dua no so
Ɔfaa nyamberansɛm yi so kenkan wɔn nhweneɛ
…san de kukɔɔ wɔn adagya mu nsrahwɛ wɔ ehu hyɛn mu

III
Nnura yi a,
Aberantipa no kyeree Akuba de no tena ne tiaseɛnam mu tesɛ Bronya akokɔ
Wɔn duru ne nhyɛsoɔ kokomu hɔ no
M’enfrɛ hɔ efie da
Ɔwɔ no nkonsa ma no kɔ si ne nneɛma
Owie yɛ no
…ɔsan nso si n’agegemu kosi sɛ Akuba atufokɛseɛ no dwo yɛɛ traa
Aa ɔnyɛ n’asiwa
Ɔde nsɔhwɛ mu ndiguo na ɛdane etuo
…de bɔ no ntrɛne

IV
Ɛnɛ yi,
…ɔde n’asɛm kɔɔ Abaawa so no
Ɛna n’apaawa abɛtɔ animguaseɛ gya so no o
Enti wo te akuku-adamfoɔ a
Na ɛyɛ wɔn a wɔn de wɔn sɔsɔ
…eetu mmaayaa ayaase wɔ suapɔn abodin mu
Wɔn kɔfabae ɛne “Okukudam” a n’apaawa da so yi
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © October 11, 2019

WEIRDEST WISPS

They met daily on Facebook
And shared jokes via Twitter
They saw each other on Instagram
And chatted seriously via email
While walls were their only distance
A walking sadness on unfortunate path

II
And so the child grew by the teachings of the net
And fell into its wreckless bet with life
His fingers talked for his mouth
His eyes thought for his mind
His body always needed a ghost to represent in all congregations
Such a walking sadness on an unfortunate path!

III
The heat of awkwardness piled up
Home schooled
A human fooled
An internet made
A rope talked to his problems
And offered transportation to another realm
Where the body could not follow to hurt
And so it was that Kobby did leave
As the Mensahs cried their fate in hate
It was a walking sadness that walked an unfortunate path

IV
I hope many will learn from their tale
So as to unstale their tales
In this world in a crazy vehicle
…on a weird road chased by hypocritical wisps
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © October 11, 2019

PILLS OF QUILLS

If you’re still ill in will, with worries piled bills
The pills in quills will still your will
…so find words waiting in closed books
They’ll give you thrills which will shrill your ills
…and fill your chill with goodwill
Just kill your ills of daunting hills with stories
Waiting to shed your worries

II
You can meet a brute who crudes a cute
And an angel bright to smite the brute
You can swoon at noon like a moon afloat
Just by some hopelessly sweet romantic vibes
You can be with a ninja who gingerly snaps
And get all lovers in your wraps
What of cursing outloud and crying the shrouded?
Be a read who reads to live
Just kill your ills of daunting hills with stories
Waiting to shed your worries

III
All that is hidden can be ridden at your bidden
If you just open those books
…to explore
Lives in books are worth our booking
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia October 10, 2019

BASICS OF ETHICS

1. Priorities
2. Honour
3. Patriotism
4. Double Standards
5. Groveling
6. Sovereignty
7. Oppression
8. Expression
9. Impression
10. Favour
11. Saviour
12. Behavior
13. Cages
14. Slavery
15. Justification

Ib
1b. Knocked up
2b. Fucked up
3b. Strapped on
4b. Preposterousness
5b. Cracked in
6b. Searched
7b. Wiped out
8b. Sanity
9b. Nonsensical
10b. Grow weeds
11b. Development Farm
12b. Global Village
13b. Power
14b. Gobble
15b. Powerless

II
I didn’t know our 1 were so strange
I didn’t know our 8 could work to our advantage
Let alone cause our 9 to battle our 7

III
I didn’t know our 6 was this revered
Until it was used as 11 to check some’s faulted 12
To save their falling 10
What selective emancipation
In the 13 of our 14
And demented queers cheer with horrid 15

IV
Where stands our 6
When our 2 was long slashed by 5
In a 4 which stamped our 7?
Why do we now think 3 when our 1
…have never been straight?

V
Goats chewing on grasses fear weedicides
…and poison
Suited pigs are now modeling eagles in mmeri-ntama
Forgetting the kneeling of their 2
To beg for even things communualism can cater for

VI
Wisdom has been 2b and 1b
5b and 6b in an unfortunate 7b of our 8b
Why else do we 3b this 4b
In a 9b of 4?
Is it to 10b in our 11b to force us to mark time
In this 12b where 13b 14b the 15b?

VII
We’re a bunch of sorry laughters
Using our own minds as equipment
To entertain happy spectators
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © October 9, 2019

SEXCAGRADES

Ugly luring
Ugh lusting
Untoward loving
Uni-Lords
Luck will lock on all your clocks
…to uncork the pens you use to fork
…your victims
Reversing trends of shamed victims
…and famed predators

II
You’re lions picking on cubs in nursing
You’re like umbrellas suffocating noses with fake protection
You’re staircases crippling legs with hidden tetanus nails
Oh you pathfinders turned murderous ice
…to overturn healthy ships dangling tips through lips to feed snakes in zips!
You’re unjust beasts who’ve lost their home forests
…of evil
Deviling in paradises and creating hells
…in innocence
But your luck will lock on all your clocks
…to uncork the pens you use to fork
…your victims
Reversing trends of shamed victims
…and famed predators

III
The power you use as bullets
…to shoot down prides, egos and dignity
The honour you use as arrows
…to pierce through the helpless to sorrow
The respect you use as knives
To blind and bind all eyes behind
Will fall in a call so raw
Trust that luck will lock on all your clocks
…to uncork the pens you use to fork
…your victims
Reversing trends of shamed victims
…and famed predators

IV
For manipulation is no matriculation
Which needs watering through to thigh graduation
And intimidation is no seedling
Which needs planting in our fertile landucation
Minds are not your toys
…for your ploys to coyly play
…to get you bodies of shoddies to muddy
Luck will lock on all your clocks
…to uncork the pens you use to fork
…your victims
Reversing trends of shamed victims
…and famed predators

V
For sins have tins
…whose bins of wins fill up
And time coughs dimes
…whose crimes in mimes speak up
Oh luck will lock on all your clocks
…to uncork the pens you use to fork
…your victims
Reversing trends of shamed victims
…and famed predators
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © October 8, 2019

This poem is dedicated to all those who have in one way or the other suffered molestation or abuse in an educational setting. Justice will surely be the norm someday.

THAT DUDE (A Fantasy Tale)

Ia
Stories……Interest…… Needs
Worries……Filters…….Deeds

Ib
I heard the macho had come to town
His history hopped out from the past
…flipping itself like an interesting script
…in the library of my mind
Forcing smiles long on vacation
…to return home to the mouth of my face
Mischief playing dondo, mpintin and atumpan in my head
…as my feet danced in can’t-wait-to-feel mode

II
He was to grace the climax of the festival
And my pretty and awesome mind
…was to lay the perfect trap
…to arrest his attention
…and subsequently his body
…to the bed of my thrill
…armed with a naughtiness born out of my devilish side
…making sure no corners sat for a hide

III
The D day came
…with many buttocks competing to stand out
Mine, not capable of a somersault
…let alone an earthquake that will break him in
Like an ebony, his skin shone with the sun
…his dark hair still guarded his hairline
…like disciplined soldiers on guard duty
…none out of line
His eyes swarm in flirty waters
…black in brown in white
Mouth like a womb I needed
…even if it could drive me to the tomb
Tall body that looked like an electric pole in my mind
…then
…legs and arms well proportioned
…chest lying like the best football park in the world
I could swear his fingers called for my kneading
…I didn’t mind being dough
His flat back side promised a handsome harvest at the frontal
And the muscles!
…Oh the muscles snaked like wild cobras
He was everything that spelt the warrior long spoken about
Yes, he was fine
…so fine I needed him mine
…even if it was for an hour

IV
He broke the bones of his competitors like lonely broomsticks
And the crowd-
…both men and women
…screamed his name
Humans choked the Hantrase Square
…making me a dot in the lot as the dark curtained
…but I was confident

V
The bonfire went out
…according to plan
Darkness wore the place like a whore on known chores
…which paid well into satisfaction’s core
The rope housed by my hands
…readily went to tie his left leg
The pole which could not be broken
…being its support
…in a nyansapo which even the wise
…will struggle to crack
I then stood close
…watching him struggle to break free

VI
“Fight me…
I purred into his ears
…as he struggled for an untie
“or grant my wish
…of being my night dish”
He smiled
“Sure, the second will be a pleasure
…so help me out of this rope”
And I did

VII
The mat rustled in complaints
…of the new load
Sweat was a delicious light on
…for the horror need that chanted a feed
The lantern struggled to picture his shadow
…and lost me in him
But my hands had long been explorers
They searched all caves to get the snake
…and wake it live
…from its slumber to play
It was not a cobra
…it was a watersnake to my surprise

VII
“No Warrior Kumnipa
…I need the snake that has cultivated many songs
…from satisfaction of women
…not a water snake which only pinches in self defence”
A snore insulted my bore
…and sent hungry emotions
…to fetch angry ones
…from my mean vault
But reasoning came in their stead
…to whisper his humanity
…and fallibility of tiredness
Sleep still stayed far from me
…till dawn

VIII
He did wake
…and I thought my brakes could break
…in his shake
But he couldn’t beat the record of Kwaa Appiah, the village drunk
His fingers lingered on his side
His eyes played pilolo with mine
His legs shook like a hook afraid of a shark
…far deep in waters from its owner
His mouth closed and opened in panting
Little by little,
…his greatness broke down like the Walls of Jericho
Leaving him naked in strengthlessness
Right before my disappointing eyes

IX
So he was a little fante kenkey
…in huge big beautiful brown plantain leaves
I fetched his togas
…and opened the door
…for his squeeze out
He promised a come back
…but I wasn’t enthused
He did come back
Every Memeneda
…which I made to swallow his almost dead neck
By fastening the door at the back
…and killing the light out of the wick of the lantern

X
For a month and a half
…he tolerated
But decided the sun needed a sitting in our setting
He met to his horror
…Kwaa Appiah in his hardworking stupor
And was not pleased
Warrior Kumnipa lived by his name
…snapping Kwaa Appiah’s neck
Turning him instant ghost in my happy host

XI
The extraordinary him
…immediately showed his ordinariness
As many gathered in my compound
…due to the shrill in the sounds
…that bolted from the pit of my stomach
Funny, the sweat from human and spirit together
…had not dried
But I cried
…for the run which did not take me to the peak of pleasure
…for losing the best gem which only I knew of
…for the many pleasure climbs nights will taunt with memories
Till my well painted whore life ended
…in Kojokrom
This is the tale of that dude
…who still chases my unwilling
…and uninterested slit
No matter how loud jealousies of people here haunt
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © October 7, 2019

FASHION RUNWAYS

Clothes to shada so all can yada
Hair to pair so it can fata
Footwear to match so atanfo can shiver
Makeup to fit, to look the perfect diva
God’s temples have turned runways
Agyawaadwo!

II
Whispers tiptoe within church walls
And turn bold talks after with shouting balls
“Did you see Awo Yaa’s duku?
It looked like the head of Obosom Bruku”
“I could fit into one of Agbozo’s trouser legs
He was a perfect stick in the agbada trousers!”
Many others will add to exude self importance
For the happy miseries
Who pose relaxed
…after turning God’s churches into fashion runways

III
What gave to level the poor with the rich
Has today become classist
…milking the poor as desperate shepherds milk lean cows
And buys body shaming
…to gift their horrific struggles
The Bible now dribbles the poor
…sip their blood to turn users tipsy and greedy
…like abɛnom
To continuously model vampires on pulpits
While wearing refined sweat like decorated pigs
Why have churches turned fashion runways?

IV
If the end times exist
It would have come to resist
Insisting on the right
…to refresh the frozen horrors

IVb
Which hell is greater than a brainwashed head
…on a suffering body?

V
Now none searches for real churches
…and fetches no wretches reaching for the unfortunate
Real churches died long before now
With none knowing how

Vb
Some may call for hedging
…claiming others are still living true
But which wise pauper acts elder
…even in true churches?
Face it
All you attend are fashion runways
…which turn hypocritical networks after closing
…and metamorphose into gossip palours at home
OH, forget ye not the models posing on internet streets
…faking thanks to the almighty
It is really a runway now
…exhibiting clothes and money
In Sunday showdowns
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © October 6, 2019

LOUDEST

They all scream to title the next
…in my head’s nest
Hatred screams on love
Love adorably stares
As heartbreak rears it’s head
…to force love to close its eyes
Religion calls for sanity
But sins stamp their ink on their leaders
Politics reads its provisional manifesto
But disappointment laughs loudest
…shutting in all screams
Peace makes a sign
…chaos calls that it is king
Until the law hits its gavel on the table for calm
Immediately, bribery and corruption glare their “hey!”
Reflection walks straight to the highest seat
…sits and wins the audience’s calm

II
So reflect to correct a defect
If this space has given you a chance to direct
…a task
You’re like a plane
…hosting many in your womb
To be flown down in life jackets in your lifely crash
To always be known as one of the best carriers
…to generations you’ll never see
Reflection is the most important ingredient
In our developmental cooking
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © October 5, 2019

AYASE NTƆKWA

Akasa akasa bebree yi fapem ne sɛn?
Yɛse yɛse mframa ɛɛkeka ammodin dɔ ho asɛm
Bɔyiɛ!

Ib
Ano jejejeje bɔ awerɛfie
Sɛ sɛbi, yɛ nto ɛdan akyi pono mu
Paapa,
…ansa na wo bɛ bue w’ano no
Hwɛ hunu sɛ
Wo dan akyi pono mu ato danwee
Efirisɛ ɔdɔ mu akronfoɔ kyere woa
…ɛɛdɛ sene deɛ ɔdɔ mu kyewpafoɔ abasobɔdeɛ
Ɛdeɛn na nananom aanyɛ anfa abosomsom tumi gyina ho?
Nanso ɛnɛ yi
Halleluya ntiamu bɔ nananom abosom asasa
Ɛnkyɛ na abufuw adane bɛfame mpaebɔ

II
Ɔdɔ mu nsɛm nsɛm nyɛ me Abena Tawiah Amoafowaa dadwene
Efirisɛ obiara akuma ne ne nan
Ebi nanti kɔ wɔn anim
Ebi nanti kɔ wɔn akyi
M’entumi nbɔ me deɛ adwaa
Na m’akɔ fa obi deɛ asua akɔ kyini
Sɛ anim pono ne n’akyi pono wɔ apue yi de
Abɔntene kwan yɛ efiewura nkoa tirimusɛm

III
Ɛwɔ mu sɛ nnipa su ma awufo deɛ
Ɛno nkyerɛ sɛ efunu nkɔ mprɔyɛ mu
Enti mma nnisuo hunu nsɛye w’aniso adehunu
Ano ka nsɛm a aduru n’asuɛye
Nanso akekakeka bebree bɔ tirimu pɔ asesa
Wo deɛ na hwɛ
…na w’akoma akɔso
Ɛnɛ asetena pɔnkɔ nte fo
…na w’afa ne ho akonya menemukro
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © October 4, 2019

AN ODE TO YOUNGER SELF

I stand here and turn back
To look at the you who fell into the rot of poverty
From a pot that needed you not
…and a rain which only fell for pleasure
…and fled to hide into some small pores on the earth
Today I marvel at your strength

II
I stand here and watch you sent off
To an unknown house hosting cold hearts
Who turned you into a little dog
Always to obey lest you forgo even the unneeded bones
Fear, always your companion
Shivers, always your friend
As witchcraft described you to their unkind content
And I wonder the star that filled your shine

III
Need I mention the hunger
…that wheeled you from one sleepless night onto another?
That you only thought of the pangs of others
And not the roars and bites in your grumbling stomach
And stood like a knightess
…to work even in your pitiable frame
Is only a mystery!
Abena Amoafowaa, you are one of the mastered made mystery
…ever to grace history!

IV
The cold whips of street air
The hunting fear of street monsters
The heavy weight of minerals and malt
The heavy taunt of servitude
None broke your resolve
You were firm like Afadjato
And wise like no other
You wandered in wonderment
Dragging your weight and all others
Through the desert paths of enlightenment
Paying your dues and theirs with your sweats
Until Agowa held you from a fall of breakage
One would’ve thought your peace was born
But you knew a beginner’s path when you saw it
How intelligent you were!

V
When the winds of sicknesses bit your seed
Even before your merits coughed little fees
You stood taller than all
Adding to the weighing burden that already existed
Mothering a set through, watched by betters of dirts
Can any measure your coolness Eno Amoafowaa?

VI
You fought like a lioness
Traveled like an eagle
You indefatigably worked like a multitude
Shedding drowning tears when need be
Beating sleep and its rule breaking sicknesses
…to save
Although you lost in a painful blow
You won the admiration of the heavens
The earth and even the hells
For going through it all like a born soldier
Never giving up even in a day
Yours is a bigger heart than all!

VII
This refined me
Sailed with the winds of your pains
This almost accomplished me
Swam through the seas of your tears to the shores of fascination
This respected me
Healed because of your torture
This comfortable me
Traveled through your war with clouds
How can I ever repay the warrior
Who served, pushed this queen here
…and is left in the past?
If any mouth can put words together to spell your awesomeness
Young Amoafowaa,
That mouth will deserve a medal of honour
From non less than Odomankomah himself

VIII
I’m fed thanks to your hunger
I can laugh because of your fountains of tears
I am revered thanks to the many struggles you suffered
I’m studied thanks to your diligent studies
I’m well dressed thanks to your tatters
I’m everything fair humility offers
Thanks to the nothingness you rocked
Wow!
Ɔdɔ, is there any like you?

IX
You’re all the awesome words a great dictionary holds
…and will forever roll in
You’re all the stars the brightest night sky can host
Added to its moon
You’re one of the best suns the world will know
You’re evergreen and ever bright
Your fiery spirit and your fearless soul,
Your determined body and your brilliant mind,
Your awesome discernment and your loving heart
…even in your many storms,
Gifted me this peace I feel today
Abena Sefa Amoafowaa Jemremedua
…Mansah Tawiah
Receive all your accolades for the great work done
For you’re a stone child and you’ll forever be the basis of my greatness!
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © October 4, 2019

MY TOKLO

You say I’m selling
But you are yelling
Calling for customers sleeping and traveling
In a badness of madness in searching my shaming
When I’ve never signed any contract of marketing
…with you
What is your own if I am selling my toklo?

II
While you light the fires of gossips
And pour your sweats for earth’s sips
I go on insomniac trips
And take all of tiredness’ whips
…day, night, dawn
Though my bedroom is not your market
You still bark like a desperate atufoɔ boɔ marketer
To sell me in disgust to the world
What is your own if I am selling my toklo?

III
I thank my stars if I’ve a hot spot
…ready to be bought
…by a lot
To raise me from poverty to wealth
Since I’m your work
Keep being my guard
I’ll occasionally throw you some words
When I pause selling my toklo to rest

IV
I’ve nothing to fear even if I’m selling my toklo
Is it society’s path to their potable river?
Is it the society’s ceremonial mouth?
Is it your not-to-be-tainted fetish shrine?
Or you consider it your golden farm?
It is my toklo
…on my body’s kro

V
I pity the pious who stop creating paths
…from their toklo to ahenman mu
To blabber about those who use theirs
…for earthly purposes
How sad will it be
…when your God calls and your pious path
…is a desert of thorns?
Continue selling my toklo on your time’s market

VI
We all thread on roads of our choices
After following our inner voices
So you continue to make up noises
Expecting gracious invoices
…for my pay
Ha! My toklo will at least pay me
Yours?

VII
Time is a cruel boss to mankind
There is no word like kindness
…in its wicked dictionary
So continue selling my toklo in your freshness
But don’t bemoan a loss
If you wake to the arrest of wrinkles
Having used all your time to help sell my toklo
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © October 3, 2019

TILL THE EXIT

There were dead men before us
Oblivon was a hunter who had all the games of life
Not anymore
Not in our lives

II
For our present can be frozen like ice
To locomotively flow like rivers
On a save-forever realm
You think I lie?
Google Mugabe
Google Maya Angelo
Google Atukwei Okai
And they will stand
…sit
…laugh
…shout
…discuss
Like you
Like I
Like all
None dies today

III
So don’t be a bee who stings itself and becomes
So crippled that it’ll need another’s nickle
To wriggle out of its hurts
Always looking like an errand dog
At the meeting of grand animals
For there are eyes with unblinking lenses
There are ears with no blockages
And there are mouthpieces with no brakes
We sure won’t die
But so will our deeds

IV
So live the reasoned
Work like a biblical ant
Be selfless like the Samaritan
Giving your all to the call of playing the ball of development
Into the success goalpost
For the unbirthed who’ll be watching you
Years after your bones are droned to extinction
Even if you can’t
…at least exist to assist
…and count in the makers list
…until your exit
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © October 2, 2019

EDUCATIONAL SOCCER

Old voices die amidst young voices
No matter how loud or shrilling
They are like plantain leaves
…no matter how beautiful their stretches
…they dry up and fall only to be replaced by a higher new
With every height of the plantain tree
…comes a new sect of accompanying leaves
Such is the moulding of society

II
Watching education become a park
Where culture battles foreign donors as they play sexual curriculum
…in this modern exploratory world
Hoping to score the winning goal
…while the referee and line referees
…have already signed a mental gain bait
…with the latter
Mixes excitement, laughter and fun
…in a sour-sweet Martini
For this spectator

III
It reminds me of a story an ancestor told in a dream
About a man living on a loamy land
…overtaken by an explorer looking for loam to better his land
The stranger dug the loam of the native while he slept
And forced him to sprinkle clay on his over fertile land with occasional fertilizer
So the healthy plants started losing weight
…wilting in fruit before their harvest
Still, the native saw nothing wrong
The stranger proposed to dig almost all the loam to his side
…and replace it with his sand and clay
To kill any fruit that will try growing
…on top of all the plants of the native
The native helplessly battles an agreement
…as his family asks that a mixture at least be made
Odomankomah watched the playing comedy in a sad tragedy
…and cried
Each and every tear drop
…flying him farther from the native

IIIb
The ancestor should have finished his story
Before my spirit nudged my body in a wake

IV
Whichever side that wins
…will just become an interesting blabber
…that will blow over in days fewer than three rice grains
But why do I see holes in the backyard
…getting pleasure keys in cherished unlocks
…openly in multitudes
…thanks to the absurd calls of shouting commentators?
I also see mortars pounding mortars
…and building cucumbers to reach the cassava of pleasure!
Agyawaadwo!
Why wake one faking sleep to keep wailers quiet
…through an emboldening chaos?
No matter the resistance of statics
I’m sure their hearts know
…their loss
As what they fear is already a built power play
…needing just an unveiling
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © October 1, 2019

A HOME

A home is like a beehive
Built with care
Treated so fair
With a peace so rare
An easy sea with cherished breath for every dive

II
A home is like dolphins’ ocean
Strong in bond
All in fond
A safe haven tu le monde
A place where every commotion through emotions are carefully worked out in devotion

III
A home is a forgiving structure
A place where even blinds
…find all kinds of minds
…in combined help in troubling winds
A place where there is healing for every broken fracture

IV
A home is a shell where bells of breaking hells
…dread
For they know they can fall dead
Before they reach its shed
A place worth more than all pearls

V
A home is an oven of pride
Where all are cooked
…prestige and a future booked
A place where all, on love, are hooked
An amazing future on a happy ride

VI
A home is a temporary bye
In wait for a happy hi
A home is made up of real laughter in affectionate tie
It is a transparent pen
And a protected den

VII
A home is a place of trust
Where justice is a must
A place where everyone feels part of the cast
And gathers tenderness which never rust
Cherishing every day they fold in their past

VIII
It is a place where your craze amazes ones you love
A place where your faults never halt the flow of your built love
A place where your every state in fate is a date for your mates
A safety cocoon with tension relief dates
A place where you’re shown in beautiful mirrors
…even in your horrors
The place where intimidation is zero
And every soul is a hero
That is what I call a home
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © September 30, 2019

SANITY

Let’s import sanity from the past
To distill the madness going wild in our present
Because humanity is falling fast
Empathy, mostly absent
…in our daily must

II
Order has now climbed a long tree
Hiding from the guns of chaos
Respect paying its antonym exorbitant fee
What has turned hit songs? Conversations formerly aos

III
The world is now upside down
Consciences are clogged with shamelessness
As indoor games turn dips which chips of fun
…are dipped in to sooth lips
…destroying its zips to sip laughter
…from notoriety turned norms
Tips of sages are completely dodged and redirected to kolo bins

III
Over emulation of foreign stimulations
…has now brought us to this strangulation of culture
Where children ungratefully abandon their earth makers
With a “My life” storm shake
Forgetting some hands held their young till they gained their thoughts

IV
This is the same problem that knocked out the birth interest
…of those battling extinction
Why will I procreate if I’ll live like an abandoned mouse
…in an-awaiting-for-death hostel
Far from my beloved at the tail end of my life?

V
Let’s import sanity from the past
To heal the ridiculousness of the present
Before we travel to the future
Leaving our generation with better structures
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © September 29, 2019

THAT SPEAR OF BITTERNESS

An unfairness dipped her heart in hatred
As vengeance taunted her pride
Voices pushed for drastic actions
Until she took the spear of bitterness

II
She flew on its handle
Like a witch whose magic wand has been stolen
And drowned all calls for calm
…in the stream of anger
Until she reached her target

III
She pierced deep
With her eyes closed
Twisting and pushing and hurting
Till she felt a death at the end of her spear
She felt an emptiness
Opened her eyes and saw it
…her soul hugging her foe
…in a murder she had executed

IV
That’s why she walks like a shell
…Lifeless
The bitter spear kills foes wrapped in our souls
She learnt that too late
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © September 28, 2019

YƐNFRƐ YIE

Yɛnfrɛ yie o
Na yɛngyai sɛ y’adane yɛn ho abɔmɔfo bɔne
Ɛɛtoto yɛn ho yɛn ho piaw
Wɔ nsɛyiɛ adjan mu no

1b.
Nnɔbae bɔne abobɔ wɔ yɛn nfuo mu
…kɛtɛasehyɛ bayerɛ
…prɔyɛ mankani
…krɔno brɔdeɛ
…anibrɛ ɛmmo
…ntrɔ bankye
…pɛsɛmenkomenya ntɔrewa
…w’ati me w’aka me mako ne ne nkeka ho
Nso yen tima nframa ma wɔn nyinaa ahumee
Yɛnfrɛ yie!

2.
Aduru mmre a ɛsɛsɛ adeyɔ hyɛ yɛn ntini mu ma
Mmre a ɛwɔ sɛ yɛtwa nnɔbae bɔne yi nyinaa gu aduru
Nanso yɛ yɛ adwuma den
Tɔ atuduro de hyɛ gyidie tuo mu
De pia mprako a wɔn hyɛ nguan ntaade
Ma wɔn kɔ sɛpɛ wɔn ho nyini wɔ prɔyɛ yi mu
Nso yɛkɔ so ara soma mprako a wɔn hyɛ nguan ntaade
…ebi de yɛ kɔkɔɔ
…ebi de yɛ fitaa
…ebi de yɛ tuntum
…ebi de yɛ ahabansuo ne neɛ ɛkekakeka ho
Yaa Obenewaa nkwadaa nnwom yi hia wɔ ɔko yi ano

3.
Nana abrewa kɔtɔ prako
Prako no su sɛ ɔrenkɔ fie
Nana abrewa kɔtɔ kraman
…kraman ka prako
…prako hunu kwan kɔ fie
Nana abrewa kɔtɔ abaa
…abaa bɔ kraman
…kraman ka prako
…prako hunu kwan kɔ fie
Nana abrewa kɔtɔ ogya
…ogya hye abaa
…abaa bɔ kraman
…kraman ka prako
…prako hunu kwan kɔ fie
Nana abrewa kɔtɔ nsuo
…nsuo dum ogya
…ogya hye abaa
…abaa bɔ kraman
…kraman ka prako
…prako hunu kwan kɔ fie

4.
Yɛnfrɛ yie!
Nsoma nkanyan nkɔbɔ nnyuma bɔne akyi! Mfa atuduro mpia buruburugya!

4b
Boa maa mpanyinbɔne nhwehwɛ nnyuma pa akyirikwan
Efirisɛ mmre nni nsan akyiri nan
Nso ɔwɔ nhwɛakyiri ani
San kura mfoni afidie
Eetwa yɛn tesɛ sene
Owuo kyere yɛn tesɛ neɛ nkrɔma kyiri nkokɔ a
Ne tumi a wɔ ne nsɛmka mu nni awei
Efirisɛ ne mmrɛ nkoa na ɔbɛwɔ ano
…de bɛdi yɛn mɔdenbɔ ho adanseɛ
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © September 27, 2019

MOVING ON

When some winds
…whip my wins
And some suns
…shatter my stock
When some rains
…wreck my rest
And some dust
…render me blind
I let my being
…shed the tears
As I, like the statue of patience
…wait

II
For though there be unmerciful winds
…there are kind airs
There are cruel suns
…still there are warm suns
There are fierce rains
…but there are rains of blessings
And as there are notorious dust
So exist fine loam

III
Yes –
The cruel ones can come in succession
But no –
Forever is not part of their hurting
If transiency is fair
Its fairness reigns in the agents of trouble
For they come like the light of fireflies
And diminish only to resurface
…until daylight swallow them whole
…into ridicule
…then oblivion
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © September 27, 2019

BE NO MOPOKE

Each day,
Many hunters abound in frames of humans
…of spirits
…of souls
…of animals
Looking for who to feed on
Be no mopoke
For cries of unhappiness travel far
…fetching pests of doom to zoom and room
…in souls of criers

II
Troubles are like bubbles
They are dicey at conception
Fearful in flight
Great minds know how to fly them
To beautify their skies
…before their bursting
Fickle minds sit in the bubbly floatings
…to their crashing

III
Wise heads crack fewer words
Thrown out in clothes of advice
A mopoke is certainly no hero to be
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © September 26, 2019

NO SLEEP Tonight (18+)

Fireflies will fire and fall
Fairytales will ferry and fence
Flicks will flip and flap
Fear will fly to false farms
Fasten your firewalls
We’ll get no sleep tonight

II
Tingles will tangle in triumph
Time will toast into tatters
Touches will take all tree-airs tend to trust
…into titillating thrusts of the titans
Take your trumpet
We’ll get no sleep tonight

III
I’ll be the knightess meeting a knight
I will blind the night with the sounds of might
I will break the tears of lonely hearts
And gift them songs which will dig their choked earth
And open the tap of their thighs

IIIb
I’ll be the thunders
…which will elide the roars of tsunamis
I will be the lioness feeding her insatiable lion
I will be the colour on the skies of passion
I will be the magic rider of a heated stick
So tighten your seat belt
We’ll get no sleep tonight

IV
Don’t be a chicken
…your feathers will fly for your skin to die
Don’t be a toothless dog
…your barks will die for your soul to burn
Come as a lion
And swallow as a python
Be a sloth and you’ll be served to the vultures
So work your stamina
…we’ll get no sleep tonight

V
For it is the night for the queen
Whose torch lights once in several full moons
It is the night when traveled passions
…return with a timed promise of leaving
It is that night when lust lights to cage the night from lips to hips in flips and grips
So feed tiredness to the sluggish
Pump your heart with the air of youth
And come with charged surrender
For we’ll get no sleep tonight
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © September 25, 2019

A SHAME

We both felt the flames of attraction
And watched as our hearts held hands
…walked happily out and about
…kissed and drank fresh nsafufuo
…joked and laughed
And came back into their shameful enclaves
Watching us languish in yearning
…without doing a thing

II
You were not willing to take a step
And certainly, I couldn’t have been the willing party
For you know patriarchy locked its anarchy on my mind,
…no matter how far I’ve strayed from its village,
And hanged the keys in the bosom of shame
As an Ɔkaniba
…how could I have visited the caves of shame
…in my bid to have you?
Petty and childish definition might have fitted me then
Excuse my flaw, even wood leaves its ashes after a thorough burn

III
Years walked, looked and laughed
…at our ridiculousness
As our eyes made us out even in multitudes
Our ears heard our breaths even in chaos
Our noses made out our scents even in multi-fragrances
And woke goosebumps on our skin
Still, our emotions braked in our throats
Never making it past the fences of our lips
Still not moving
Cupid branded us stupid and chose a humid day
…to severe our ties
The debris must have fallen on you
As you watched me stand
…walk and fly

IV
Wherever your boldness traveled to
…and returned from
I know not
But I have passed the station of our bonding
And prefer being a loner than holding your hand
I don’t know what washed you from my needs
But it did wash you clean

V
So leave it be
And pray our paths cross in another world
So we can rectify this mistake
For who knows
Our roles may switch
And I may end up the bewitched
This world is far spent
…our feelings too burnt to be salvaged
So let us fall
…into the abyss of what could have been
…to search for the well hidden hole of forgetfulness
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © September 25, 2019

THESE ARTIFICIAL STORMS

These artificial storms
Made, so eyes in fear of dust
…will close to the modeling wrongs
…shamelessly walking on the carpet of the present
…to the anals of history
These artificial storms
Evoked
To battle fierce criticisms
…in the boxing ring of infamousness
These artificial storms
Made without a thought
As to the loss it’ll cause in development and the identities it’ll form for our persons
These artificial storms!
These annoying make believe storms!
These unfortunate me-de-awɔ-mo-ani storms!
Will be the machetes which will cut the throat
…of our nation
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © September 24, 2019

WHAT I WANT TO BE

Some are like aphrodisiacs
Thoughts of them make cobras out of worms
…looking for water closets to shed their vomits
Some are like comic movies
Thoughts of them break smiles
…and sometimes mad laughter
Some are pride pens
Thoughts of them paint pictures of prestige
Calling important airs to float the soul
Some are flies
Thoughts of them write annoyance in the heart
Still, flutters woo their presence
For there are chills in their absence
And they turn hills with sweaty climbs
…when they’re present, still, they have the pills of pearls
Some are peaceful moons
They bring stars to shine their beauty
And bless minds to rest with quietude
Always posing the best resting places
I won’t ask where I fall
I want to be all in one

II
I want to be the bite
…and the balm
I want to be the structure
…of your laughter
I want to be your dame
…in your fame
I want to be the axe
…which digs your yams

IIb
I want to be your steer
…and your beer
I want to be your mirror
…and your horror
I want to be your stage
…and your cage
I want to be your trip
…and your whip
I want to be your club
…and your bed
I want to be your master
…and your servant
I want to be your bank
…and your ATM
I want to be all that you love
…all that you have
…all your discomfort
…and all you crave to explore
And you, my same

III
For a boring road in company
…is worse than the chaotic
Love should be all that drama entails
…and more
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © September 24, 2019

THEY WITHOUT PREJUDICES

Like stainless skies
Every being is born without a blemish
We fall from birth into ignorance
…with abundance of opinions
Some trashy
…others great
Days help us sift the good
…through knowledge seeking
Until we reach near perfection
And are able to note that labels
…are for uncouth and lazy learners

II
We grow
…through our mistakes
We rise
…through our fall
We change
…through the taste of our bad practices
We are like roasted corn
…on a mesh on fire
Gradually turning edible for all mouths
Consider the mesh as our chances
And the fire as our will

III
Judgement of the sins we’ve discarded
…falls below the humane belt
For fallibility is a human trait
Only the unchanging deserves the chains of judgement
…in unpopular arrest
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © September 23, 2019

TOUCH NOT MY ANNOINTED

He owns diamonds in silver
And claims he deserves it because of his wastage of saliva
…on his make-believe podium
Now he selects juicy apples to crack on his mat in hues
…to mark to live above sin
…as his following Johns look and join
In an open revelation awaiting the original Revelations
Still, the church dwells on “touch not my anointed”
…to condone the foolishness in planting

II
Poverty is the spirit posing holy to bless his people
Hunger is the hope-whip
…forcing them into fasting and prayers
…with deluded hope of an opened heaven gate
Deception has gauged the eyes of the minds of all followers
Leading manipulation to play them like strings on a piano
Adorned with beads of loss
…the followers find struggling beautiful
They preach their state godly in light
And see the right as Satanic in darkness
All because the anointed can do no wrong

III
Whatever voodoos they use to enchant
Is working beyond measure
As even some educated get misled
…like stupid sheep
…shedding the clothes of hardwork
…to put on gowns of deceptive miracles
How can our feet see the right paths
…to turn into roads
…to reach the destination of development?

IV
Preachers breaching codes to leach on the helpless!
Worms acting cobras to poison a whole section!
Your fires of hell are fast approaching
…through the dragon of enlightenment
Your reign must come to an end
For the whole to recover
…from the horrible holes you’ve dug with your pickaxes of greed
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia September 22, 2019

CRUEL ARRANGEMENT

In the eyes of many an ignorant
We’re arranged like an orrange
Each in our hugging line within
Our African cover making a distinction impossible
Blackness is our definition
Tonal scenting is our stamp
When we are a coalition of big farms
With many cultural plantations

II
But we are cruely cut into
…for bites
In four equal parts
…or two
…or even a little part on the head
To suck our juices of harmony and chew our fibres of wealth

III
How a touch affects the whole is frightening
Yet farmers watch as seeds drop
…wherever
…whenever
Growing through need and scenting the rot
If only we can fence with the wires of self do
In trade and aid
And build us by ourselves
To cut off pests feasting on us!
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © September 21, 2019

BRƐGUO ƐƐYA

Kɔ ti ne krɔ
Na onipa fufrɔ mfa nkɔ deɛ
…ɛɛya
Wo yi obi se ase brɔ
Na obi gye ne sereɛ bɔ so a
Ɛsen sɛ nea gyata aka wo kra
…wɔ ɔko ano
Ɔbrɛguo ɛɛya wai
…me nua

II
Kɔ si dankɛseɛ
Na ɔfufurɔ mmɛtena mu
Kɔtɔ hyɛn
…na ɔdasani mmɛfa nkɔ
Titi wo mmɔwerɛ mu fa pia ɛtuɔ
…na amamafo mfa amamasɛm mmɛdi ne hwimhwim deɛ
…ɛɛya yie
…me nua

III
Nso
…ɛwiase tesɛ bayie-kwaebretuomu
Gyata a wɔn bɔwerɛ tesɛ sɔsɔ
…tenase ma wɔn ho hu suma ngwan mmɔborɔwa
…kɔ aha de wɔn nam nyinaa brɛ wɔn
…ma wɔn we yi wɔn se mu sɛɛ defeee
…a wɔn mma asomafo yi nnompe mpo
Brɛgu ɛɛya o
…me nua

IV
Nfifire fifiri wɔ abrɛfoɔ adwuma den ntini mu
…ma akwadwofoɔ de nkrataa kakraabi hyɛ wɔn abotesɛm
Enti ahiafo mmim kɔ ohia aforɔ mu
…ɛna adefo de abotesɛm di mmɛnsɛm wɔ nkonwa kɛseɛ so
Me nua
…ɔbrɛguo ɛɛya o!

V
Mmogya mu sasa asesa
…ama wɔn anobrɔ atropi
Enti akakabensɛm agye wiase abɔso
…ɛnenam wɔ nyamberansɛm mpaboa mu
…de hu ɛɛbɔ abrɛfo ntrɛnee
Abrɛfo mfifire adane mogya eehwie fa ɔbrɛ drubɛn mu
…regugu adefo mfuo so
…ma eenyin fɛfɛ
Ah me nua
Ɔbrɛguo ɛɛya o

VI
Nsesa hia nsrahwɛ wɔ ha
Ehia sɛ nsesa ba bɛbrɛ akakabenfo ase
Ehia sɛ ɛbɛ tu atuturafo tumi egu
Ehia sɛ ɛbɛbɔ prɔyɛ ahwiaseɛ
Efirisɛ Kwadjo nkɔdɔ
Na Kwasi mmɛdi deɛ
…ɛɛya paa
Onua breguo ankasa deɛ
…ɛɛya!
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © September 20, 2019

EGNEVER

It is a boil
One makes to plant on the soul
Every passing day stretching its hurts
Till it bursts and sores

II
It sucks the fun out of life
And rides bodies like horses
Into ditches where stitches fear their dents
And never leaves a way out
After its breakthrough
For it then creates a chain of the wronged

IIb
So a chased turn chased in a family baton run
It is that deadly

III
It is no child’s play
…and no small task
It is no great marks
…and no hero measure
It is nothing worthy of congratulations
And certainly not a society of classy rank

IV
So learn to live with forgiveness
And help weed out bitter roots
…which can’t easily be uprooted
…and can live through generations
Discard it and free yourself
…and your unborns from hurts
For it can plant poverty in its bitter blindness
It can never be a good thing when it seeks to murder
It only becomes good when it is directed at self improvement
Yes, it is that strong and powerful, deadly even–
…REVENGE
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © September 19, 2019

LET YOUR HEART TELL ME

You
…yelling your yearnings
…like thunders troubling and tormenting
You
…pleading with persons
…like a beggar brutalized by a brutal beast
…seeking sympathy
You
…dressing in duress
…feeling a fault
…courting my court
All you need is to let it speak for itself
…to mine –
Your heart

II
There is a language of sincerity
That truthful hearts exude
On tickets of actions
…and slates of body language
So let your heart speak
…let it speak to mine
To see if there is a pairing factor

III
You can’t kneel while your heart sleeps
When mine waits for a signal
You can’t wail while my heart sails
…on ships of doubts
So wake it –
…your heart
And let it speak
…and read its own performance
…in a feeling of failure
…or pass in my complex heart
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © September 19, 2019

MO NNUE – (For the family of the Takoradi girls)

There is nothing painful
Like hope dangling by the minute
…followed by uncertainties the next minute
…then fear of loss in another minute
Ah ɛnanom, agyanom ne anuanom
…mo nnue mmowai!

II
It was such a long scary road
…in the vehicle of despair
It was such a heart wrenching journey
…and you were served unfair
It was painful clouds on your skies which took so long to clear
…with their angry thunders
…and deceptive lightning
Which all came down on your roofs in desperate rains
…and turned swords of hurt
…to wound your hearts
Even we, as onlookers, are shedding bloody tears
Who can doubt your trauma?
Ah ɛnanom, agyanom ne anuanom
…mo nnue o!

III
Even after being served bodies
…after losing their breaths
Many a mourners have cursed their souls
…and God
I have been there
…I know
Even after battling fair sicknesses and losing
Many a mourners have shut themselves in rooms of pain
…I so know
…because I’ve felt it
Losing healthy lasses you’ve toiled to raise
…into teens and young adults
Not through sicknesses
…but bad weeds in the nation
…and having authorities fail you in your hard trust
Must be like bullets being fired on innocent bodies
Ah ɛnanom, agyanom ne anuanom
…mo nnue o!

IV
Yes, your minds will travel through torture
Self blame –
…for not trading all you had to save their lives
Heart bleeds
…for not knowing the suffering served them
…before they turned dishes on death plates
Hurt
…because your nation failed to save your own
Afraid
…of losing the others that remain your rocks
Sadness –
…for being the powerless life keepers of your beloved
And scarred
Never ever to forget the loss that pain dug into huge wounds
But try a forgiveness of self
…try thinking of death as the destination we will all reach
…and dodge remembrance
…even if it means humming a tune
Ah ɛnanom, agyanom ne anuanom
…mo nnue o!

V
You’re not alone in your mourning
Yours is a shared mourning
…all citizens cursing with you
Yours is a national disgrace
…that all leaders dread has happened
You’ve been wronged
You’ve been so wronged
But be strong
Ah ɛnanom, agyanom ne anuanom
…mo nnue!
…mo nnue o!
Na mo nhyɛden!
So the angels will find rest
…through your strength
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © September 18, 2019

Failed! – TO THE ELITES

You’re roosters who have lost their crows
To the snorts of pigs
Who mislead your people
Into wriggling in dirt
You’re the roosters who peck on everything unimportant
Leaving dire issues rotting like unattended sores
You’re herbs which have turned useless leaves
Failing to heal your nation’s sicknesses
Yet demanding for undeserving ovation
What is the importance of toothpaste
If it can freshen no mouth after brushing?
You’ve failed on the sail as navigators to our right destinations

II
You have the strength to win the masses
And check the wealth politicians amass
To help in building comfortable classes
And cut short all the dubious religious ritual mass
So we can shame poverty with our hippy glasses
Yet you sit like scattered weeds
…used as grammar show-humans
…to validate media channels
…with few followers
As worthless thinkers steal your thunders
…and act Gods in suits that define your formality
And send you straight to the gutters of no attention

III
As some of you chase meat in skirts of your mentees
And some of you brag like rags needing to convince
…their land owners that they’re no trash
As some kill challengers with threats of failure and no promotion
And some turn hands of the corrupt to loot
As some turn indifferent fishes
Swimming to other nations to act lotuses
And all of you live like different plants on separated lands
The years run without stops
And our failure spreads like cancerous canker
…branding us hopeless

IV
Can’t you all come together
And be a Pearl Asiamah
To battle nonsensical lords planting false yams
In the minds of the populace
Branding them useless to the cause of development?
Can’t you all lead a tutoring on mandates of the electorate?
Can’t you all leave your head swells
And join the war of poverty
And its ills of xenophobia
…brain drain
…monstrous epidemic
…hunger
By fighting the soldiers of corruption?
Aren’t you failed navigators on our ailing seas?

V
A master should be the duster of clustered idiocy in unblessed minds
A master should be an activist for rights of the vulnerable
A doctor must help heal the ills of the society
A professor must be the prophet of the people
…leading them through the right path
…identifying threats that will harm
An Emeritus must be an advisor on the boards of rulers
As degree holders act apprentices in their work shoes
But you’re theoritical bosses in practical fright
Most of you wanting to join the looting
You’re inventors in name, deedless in deed
You have failed
You have oh so failed
Your books were nothing but fraud makers
Whose teachings are only own greed
…and nothing more
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © September 17, 2019

ANGER

Anger can push you from success town
To the broken hut of a ridiculed clown
Anger can make you slip from the apex of respect
To the stinking feet of disrespect
Anger has caused many to fall from the mountain of gain
Into the ditch of disdain
Fence well your anger
…in a barn of control
…before it monstrously destroys your hard earned reputation

II
Anger is a demon
…which blinds in summon
Anger is like poison
…which knocks out the engine of reason
Anger is a bush fire
…which burns all that farmers acquire
…with hard work
Anger is like boiling water
…which has freshly lost its fire
Guguru-guguru-guguru until air calms it
…then it realizes it is part of the ordinary water family
There, nothing can erase the shame of loud pomposity
…when it was in its boiler
Nothing can reverse any burns it might have caused
Kill your anger before it kills
…your bright

III
So let ears help in closing
…when annoyances pass their mark
Let eyes help in diversion
…when sight sights a spark
Let legs help in walking
When fury hurry in building
To check the spread of the fire
…which wires to destroy revered personalities
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © September 16, 2019

SPEAK OUT

Sometimes clouds of sadness can form in our minds
Sometimes thunders of fears will blast through it
As Will lights to die in an ill lightning
When you reach that point
…SPEAK OUT

II
If you don’t
The sadness will rain down your inner
…and flood your body
Drowning your soul and killing your spirit
Leaving no room for your body to survive
So please do the needful
…SPEAK OUT

III
There is nothing unsolvable
There is nothing beyond human
There is no problem shared unheard
And fallibility includes vulnerability
So SPEAK OUT
By all means REACH OUT
Do your best to LET OUT
Any depression suppressing your expression
And forcing an impression of a no way out

IV
You are more than you think capable
So share a problem
…to offload
So you can be lighter to walk
…until you reach life’s final destination
…gracefully
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © September 15, 2019

THE STENCH OF YOUR NEEDS

You tripped on the stone of my warmth
…and landed in the lair of my love
Seeing nothing but darkness above
You say you can’t find your way out
I know it’s hard to find that way out
…but try

II
Your tears are flooding my abode
…man tears lack charm in a plea bargain
…where harm is armed with a damn
And hearts without light
…see none to pity

III
Bluntness is my bullet
…hoping to bail your interest with a death
Cruelty is my gift
…changing your memories into hatred
…then forgetfulness
…hopefully
Only weak hearts die
…in an unrequited love battle

IV
Strength is carrying your pain
…making it no bane
…to your attention strain
Strength is your smiles
…in all your yearning miles
…hiding needs like piles
…situated at CCTVless parts
…of the body

V
Love is a chain of hunting
…as the sheep hunts grass
…and the wolf hunts sheep
…as the lion hunts wolf
…and human hunts lion
Only lucky ones get fair chances
…of hunting themselves in equal halves
…to later merge in a determined pledge

VI
So find your way out
…please find your way out of my lair
You are no food I wish to taste
…neither is your blood water
…I need for a thirst quench
All I smell is the stench of your needs
…marring the success of my hunt
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © September 14, 2019

AKUTIABƆ

Ei akutia?
Akutia a ɛmmaa nnipa ntatia
…tiatia Kwaku Nketia anuonyam so
…wɔ Obo Nkwantia maa krom hɔ nkɔnkɔn-mpete susɔ no sɛɛ sɔ sɔ sɔ sɔ
…yɛɛ n’abrabɔ pasaa no?
Abena Amoafowaa Jemremedua, Agowa dɔ ba
…me mma no nka me kaba
…na abɛka me sliiti

Ib
Ɛyɛ ɔbɔdamfoɔ na etumi ne mframa bɔ kasatwɛdeɛ amansan ani so
Ɛyɛ ohufoɔ na ɛbɔ nsɛmyaw adegya
…wɔ mmerɛ a n’abodin ataadeɛ wɔ hɔ
Nsɛm a enni din nhia akataesia anaa abrantepa biara ntwiee
…wɔ kwan biara so
Sɛ wo ma akutia asowa a
…na ɛko tia tia wo faahodee so

II
Wobɛtumi ahyɛ nsɛmhunu m’ataade agu me pioto so
…ahyɛ no me kro-chia
…de m’asomdeɛ apii ne so
Wo pɛ a, bɔ mɔdin kyerɛ no m’akyia yie
…na kyerɛ no me nne
Sɛ me din aanfam ho a
…ɛneɛ na w’ato opete tuo
…wɔ brɛ a China ni biara ngyina hɔ
Me din bɔ ho mpo n’aɛdaa ne sɛn?

III
Ɛyɛ babasu-hu na ɛkyikyiri ammodin bɔ ahiyie ho
Ɛyɛ oniadeyɔ na ɛsɛye ne mmrɛ
…keka nsɛmtwie de gye gye ntɔkwa hunu
Enti wo dane wo ho kraman bɔdamfuo a
Mɛ dane me ho adukrom dua kɛseɛ
Ama w’apɔ wo wowowowo asɛi w’anum ntasuo kwa

IV
Ɔkraman a onni seɛ
…na ɛpɔ kyɛre wɔ n’ataafo anim
Akutia ne nan o
…na m’ama n’awura m’adwen mu
…n’ankampɛsɛ abɛtiatia m’ahotɔ so –
…onua
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © September 13, 2019

HWAN HWAN BITTERS AND CREAMS

Ia
Ogya de gya!
…me de awɔ no!
M’adi apagya!
…me de aka no!
M’atu mu dɛ
…me de akyerɛ no!
Wɔma bebree paepae ansa na wadro abɔ
Agya-nyaneno ne ɛna-twimu ma me bebrebe no
…nyinaa yɛ nsu brane
…a ɛtɔ dum ayaase abaa mu gya
So STOP it!

Ib
If your flex
With your ex
During sex
…flopped and ended in a vex of the perplexed
Leaving you with a complex
Look for the BEST habits in nature
To nurture your broken factor
And not a deadly lighter which will get you to an apex
And drain you senseless

II
Going for alomo
…to seek some promo
Superman bitters
…to show your powers
Buying Atiamo
…to boost the hormones
Tramol in boosters
…to temporarily rule as a rooster
Jamaican stone
…for a temporal bone
Are sure ways of killing your jack

III
Make do with your little fire
…instead of seeking to more acquire
Even gums bleed in a violent brushing
Those sacks may have no mouths to speak
And may have no powers to open their pods, as knives help cocoa pods, to show
…their hurts
So STOP it!

IIIb
Many a man have huge and long sticks
But know not how to steer them
Power lies in knowing the self
…and how to hold your steer in driving
You owe no woman’s impressions
…in your bedmatical expressions

IV
It is true horny is healthy
…but induced horny can lead to seduced Tuesday weeding
So live out your best
…in your loving quest
If your enough can’t stuff your half
Many passionate souls hide in your fancy
Dig out and wear your size
It is better than housing a dead part
…on a bitter and frustrating journey till death
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © September 13, 2019
Inspired by Dr. Akosua Abdallah

MY MUSIC VIDEO (18+)

Shea buttered melanic bodies display
Scantily clad at the junction of stickdom
Some faces needfully smileless
Other faces hopefully smileful
Some waists twirling
Some hard buttocks twerking
As I sing

II
I ring the ding to dong like a gong
I am the tongue to bless with a song
I need your wriggle to shed your ego
So I can lotto a win in your bingo
So let muscles dance
Give giggling flat breasts a hopping chance
And I will sprinkle the cash
Your heart needs in a rush

Ib
Eyes open in wild need
Mouths open in needy feed
Six packs act sea waves
Moving into greed caves
As men turn dogs on fours
Surrendering in invitation for my tours
As I sing

III
Show me the holes you can burrow
Show me the strength I can borrow to shoot sorrow
In its daunting hollow
Let toes sow rows of excitement
To get to act as incitement
In my decision of your selection
For this is a competitive election
With me having the sole womandate

Ic
Hands climb poles to hold
Sending signals of egos sold
Some act shivering and cold
As others approach so bold to hold
Wriggling like kankabi
I still sing with a chuckle

IV
I will give you soil to grow your trees
I will rain you slimes to aid your crimes
I will rear you bees to protect your hes
And sing in moans to your swinging rhymes
So dance in a sweaty harvest

Id
Beasts wake in stretches
Even their sole eyes visible
Some beg in their wretches
I get up to taunt the terrible
My kente and dansikran regally decorating my shine into intimidation
As hands beg for relief for their third legs
A slap on each’s buttocks
A whip on standing snakes with lone eyes in needy dancing rhythm
That is a script well flipped
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © September 12, 2019

AFTER SHE KILLED HERSELF

She built an iron fence with jealousy
In her loving fallacy
She grew her beast with ecstacy
To chase all potential rivals
Her fearsomeness always trended to scare
Filling the barrel of her husband’s hatred
Even so, that horse was only driven to tame in days’ faces
His pleasure whip got satisfied
…every other night
Until her stalking drove her into a motor accident
On one no-nonsense day
Landing her into the ditch of death

II
At her funeral
Many of her replacement represented in a “Rest of an Arrest” clothes
Eyes of her husband so starry and happy
Like the clearest sky with a full moon
The competition made him feel like a chief
Even when her corpse had not been tasted by inland tongue
And was still hot
On the plate of land

III
If she had taken her marriage certificate to death town
It would have been fair
But the marriage was broken even before her casket got closed
And her man happily celebrated
His third leg standing attentive
…all through her service

IV
Isn’t it unfair that a graduant who worked that hard
Failed so miserably in loss?
Just that night, her husband’s bed was graced
…thrice
At different places of her former home
In a month of three
She was replaced
…societal justification for the occasion:
…her children

V
So live like you want
Love you more than a hurting attachee
For we take our individual selves there
Yes there
In death as we were brought forth in birth

VI
Marriage was no ticket to come here
Neither will it be a ticket to go there
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © September 11, 2019

W’ABEN

Sɛ yɛ ka sɛ obi aben a
Obimanso no
…atitiriw fo hwehwɛ no
…sua firi ne hɔ
Nanso ɛha yi
Amanfo hyɛ ɔtan wɔ aniberɛ kukuo mu
…de si ahoɔyaw gya so
…de homhom fi dane papa
…bɔ mu sɛɛ huu huu huuu
De gu abenfo ho fi

II
Enti yɛ bɛ yɛ dɛn aduru nkɔsuɔ kwan so?
Yɛ firi he na y’akɔto nkɔsoɔ anansesɛm?
Yɛ bɛ gyina he apopa ohia mfifire?
Okuani biara nni hɔ otwitwa ne nnɔbae pa guo
…na ogyina nwura de di akuafohene

III
Asowaasowa a ɛwɔ nyansa ti pɔ no
…entie wɔ badwen-nsakrayɛ kwan so
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © August 23, 2019

FAIR IN CARE

Some shave
…and their skins behave
Some shave
…and their skins rave
…bumps
…sores
…scars
Know your skin
…the razor to use
…and the hair to shed to curb rebellion
…after its dump
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © September 10, 2019

UNDER A MESS

The elders did say
Those who host our hands in their mouths
Need no hit on their pates
In fact, I posit that
Care routes must be taken
To even tickle as a giggle can mean a bite
It is a mess that dresses in a curse even for the blessed

II
To hit a head, a hand must work
To hold anything, a hand must work
How can a head think of rebellion
When a hand is in the prison of a mouth?

III
So the strong ends up stooging
The weak ends as rags
The righteous ends up disabled
When the mouth which imprisons a hand
Is a beast who cheats at the least chance
Such a sad state for any soul in bait
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © September 9, 2019

FOREVER A DEVIANT

If you lose sleep to keep a hope
…of my swinging slope
…from deviancy to your earth God cope
Then you need a potent dope
If not, you’ll forever mope
Because I will forever be a deviant

II
Show me the cross
And I’ll turn boss to use it as seat
For many to carry
My legs, free from the walking worry

III
Living in times past
Using another’s suffering to lock your passions
Throwing the keys into the dungeons of regret
Guarded by hungry lions of fear
Is no style I wish to wear
I live forever a deviant

IV
If my body calls for tickling treasures
I will sit on shamelessness
And freely descend the stairs of passion
Exploring every cave every hair on my body saves
To arrest your blinks and harden your demons for your shrinks
I live forever a deviant

V
If my mouth calls for a drink to my livers shrink
I will sit on societal scares
And wheel myself into every drum
…hosting akpet
…walabelee
…apio
Call it whatever
If an asadweam will be my new name
I sure will embrace it
What will wreck me?
Dancing dressless with the naked air?
Drying deadly sweats and calling lost sleep to pores
…no matter which floor calls as bed?
Eyes watching to record for their fingers and mouths
To do hawking of me
And want shame as fee
…after?
Forget it
I live forever a deviant

VI
Whatever badness is in your conventions
I am refurbishing
Because those who preach your cross
Mostly preach crap which scrap off the map leading to the tap of wisdom and
Are also those who drink the blood in dissatisfaction
Turning mosquitoes to further feast on the crowd
Ha!
Those who preach “no adultery”
Are those who mostly use many owned holes hiding in their pulpits
…massaging and shiver biting
To orgasmically force their shouting of disbelief on their congregation
Blinded and bound by threats of some books
Creating holes on our pots to drain our lot
I will forever live a deviant!

VI
So let me live my deviancy
Smoking my intestines out in realism
Blasting my enemies off
In a sanity I build
I am living my awesome deviance

VII
For I will build my God to act ladder to climb to God
I will build my don’ts to work my dos in a comfort I feel
I have shed the skin of the dictated
And now live in the skin of the dictating
I see death’s womb right there
And you call for self arrest into some dubious religious cage?
Forget it
I am living forever a deviant
In my own deviation
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © September 8, 2019

1, 2, 3, 4 and A, B, C, D, E

I. Respect
2. Kindness
3. Progress
4. Love

II
A. Care
B. Tenderness
C. Trust
D. Consideration
E. Love

III
You give me 1 and I’ll give you 2
We can both work 3 to get to 4
That is my 1, 2, 3, 4 of fairness

IV
You give me A in a 1 and I’ll give back 1 in an A
We’ll arrive at B through the doors of 2
And use 3 to get to 4
And through careful thoughts in C get to D
…then E
That is my 1, 2, 3, 4 and A, B, C, D, of my E

V
There are no familiar zones for short cuts
There is no millennial room for cheating
There are no traps to take bribes
And there’ll be no military for coups
The clear line is like one drawn by a perfect architect
And hosts the competition with a never resting sun
Only the first to get here
Gets to the bottom of my E
As all others gain their 4 in a fair fight
Fairly unfair, I know
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © September 7, 2019

AFRICA’S HEROIC VILLIAN – For Robert Mugabe

Men are made great when their
…Upclimb shines bright under
…Grave circumstances
…Affecting the unfortunate positively, after
…Beating tragedy
…Emancipating all from a fall

Ib
You, like the promised, fell into this bracket
You were like great eyes sent to a Samaria
…to sanitize into sainthood
But you turned water
…which stayed in one pot too long
Stinking and blocking nostrils
Forcing mouths in hail to curse you out

II
You started perfectly:
Harmonizing colours to coexist
You proceeded in great planning
…taking what belonged to the land for those of the land
Your flaw was not equipping the latter
…to fit into the steps
…you created with your rightful evictions
And you should have known the angry clouds you sent up
Would turn monstrous rains to fall on you
And your people

IIb
You could have saved some of your heroic deeds
If you had descended the stairs of ruling
Into the room of advisors and or critics
I guess the food of power is like cocaine
Only the bravest among the brave weans
…from its addiction

III
All the unfair:
The Ndebele massacre in the Matabeleland Cleansing
The 2008 blood, among the many others,
…spilled to keep your grasp of power intact
The cruelty of closed ears
…to the cries of the masses
Right to the selfishness of blindness
…to the suffering of your people
Oh who can forget the back to zero choice of an alien currency
After you uprooted roots of alien plants from your soil?
All these villainized your heroic golden periods
Turning your sweetness sour
That you acted tick to stay in the hair of your people
For almost decades of four
Destroyed your image in the eyes of even your great sages

IV
The fog of your overstay
That clogs your greatness in beastial gutters of minds
Forces many to curse you into unwakeable sleep
In place of blessing you to rise in ancestorhood

V
I am sure anger chases you, in insincere hearts, like a stranger
From your own maternal manger
Since some have fists of vengeance
And many hold sticks of annoyance
With others holding guns of bitterness
In your hound
I will join the rememberers of your greatness
And bid you farewell
Hoping you rest well
Knowing your positive revolution and its symbolisms to Africa’s cause
So you help build the fort of power
Should your soul host another body in a travel back
For we still need courageous souls
Amidst the terrorisms and xenophobia
And the familiar corruption you so contributed to
May your Fierce Soul Rest in Warriorhood
Even as your spirit weeds the path of hatred
…for your travel back
…into the mouth of the earth
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © September 6, 2019