Hehehehe, one plus one is one But what is this I hear? That Paa Ekow wants a nice earthenware To be his one and only bowl. Not a bad idea, after all, a man must have a bowl But, what is this I’m hearing? That he wants a last-hand bowl? This bowl I know, is […]
Tag: AFRICAN LITERATURE
ONE FOR ALL
Her hands are not for grabs She is the cook, the cook for all mouths Those hands cannot be broken like the legs of crabs They must be together for the sake of all mouths The cook cooks and the eater eats What is this about one wanting all her bowls? And what is […]
TIME IS ALL WE NEED
When my clouds formed in my sky It called the rain, I saw with my eye Then it called the storm Which stormed with lightning There was flooding and I was soaked My umbrella flew away, I nearly choked The rains camouflaged my tears So all they saw from afar was my soaked being […]
SANCTITY
Trading chastity for a dime Dogmatic audacity for a rhyme Pimping vanity for a mime Brutal insanity for a thyme Selling veracity for a prime I need to keep my sanctity Trading amity for a dime Humping sanity for a crime Hailing mendacity for a good time Insane profanity for a chime Consuming fatality […]
THE ANGELIC LONER
She tends to a farm,
A farm benevolent like heaven,
Which kills all hunger but hers
PRIDE DESERVING A BOASTING
Sauntering in gutters Abysmal whiffs walk proudly and shatters Noses, avoiding hoses, holds hands With flies which feast happily on caked defecations As the mosquitoes sing happy melodies on me A toad takes advantage of darkness and winds The throats of others to make them bullhorns to fit the situations Situations of the lantern […]
YOU AREN’T GETTING ANY (AN EXCERPT)
I You say you’re rich So you call me a bitch Because you can afford many Well, guess what, you aren’t getting any Not from me II You treat your earthly vehicle like trash While asking her daughters to hush Then you tell me, You want to board my ship, sweetie, You aren’t getting any, […]
EFFUTU MYTHS
Stories are told of a man Who had many eyes on his head Which made him the sun Leading his people to a place where a voice is only heard By him, a voice of settlement His mysterious life Living under the world of a hat Was unraveled by his weak wife While lying […]
YOU DESERVE MY PRAISE
Caught by unseen tentacles I consulted many oracles To naught, until you magnified your miracles Now I make my car a tabernacle Because your love is sweeter than a treacle In the desert I was the dessert And my soldiers did me desert To my enemies, the timing was perfect But you appeared in your […]
THE PAINFUL SPICE
As the sun sets only to rise,
As the sun, in her lifetime, is conquered in its own time
By clouds and eclipses
So is the ups and downs
PACK UP OR PERISH
I hear the hushes of the bushes And the marshes of the brushes I hear the soreness of darkness And fleeing plans of the fireflies I hear the lifting mats of the bats And weaving spectacles of some tentacles Even the headless carries a headdress A great storm is about to storm […]
FOREVER A REMINDER
Conscience stricken, Defeatism controlled I thought I saw your contrition My desolation was the attraction The wind in you embraced my storm And exploded, scattering lightning Which blinded and unblinded Like a shellfish conquered, My shell was left ashore Waiting for a picker to pick Either to grind, play with or love Luckily, an adorable […]
HARMFUL JOKES
The centipede coils When the stick pokes The stick wanting to see its length The centipede wanting that in wraps He pokes, It coils, He pokes, She coils The sun watches in anguish Seeing fun flee from their encounter Time laughs at their clumsiness The sun closes its eyes And leaves them to the scare […]
TWISTED TALES
I cried I did not like that And you did that anyway I smile and say it’s okay And you let it go? How convenient! Knowing when to push your luck And when to keep your pocket full I know one must say what she wants But it is no fault of […]
DESPERATION
She works in the kitchen But her ears are in the bedroom Alert and protective of her infant cradle One eye is on the road Awaiting the arrival of her beloved As the other works with her hands To put great taste on the table But her welcoming goes sour. Her beloved comes with […]
HEART-BREAK PLANTER
He left me in the cradle of the womb And ended in the stable of the tomb I felt the tears of the broken carrier Who tried her hardest to be no barrier Yet sat famished as I crouched hungrily within The cooking was short and superbly hot For the one who’d a storiing, […]
AKOSUA KUMA
Akua is a tiger overtaken by a cat
In a hurtful moment she sat
The cat took her heart
And left her bloated and fat
With a paper pushed through her akosuakuma
A SMILING FLOWER
The flower seed In the soil feed’ On water and sun Through the heat Before shooting It shoots With no pretty boots Just like ordinary weeds To prepare its thorns For the protection of its beauty So like the flower Sweet heart, go through life’s shower, Go through life’s heat Then stand in […]
Running after her Never catching up In this unpredictable odyssey When I got closer Her smile stayed same But she wilted as I bloomed Smiling sweat, which now fades, sat on my skin Like the sun at its peak Tired sweat cried on her skin Like the rain whipped by storms She […]
THE BIG BANG
Once I had a pretty cow Who was tall and liked to show It acted old Could not be told Until it reached it’s teen-hood It walked looking at heaven Always counting to seven When he met the old It will then be bold And walk with its shoulders singing One day it […]
CUPID’S APPRECIATION
Contemplated, Thinking you would be doggy Hoping to skip the hole of agony You told of pain excruciating When you reached that hole of agony You don’t regret it, you said Crossing the hole was bitter But made your bones better Then I felt totally subdued But I am relaxed Your morning songs of […]
LOVE’S WISHFUL THOUGHTS
I am completely besotted All but you hear my endearments. Apart from breathing, my heart to you is allotted But when I see you all I remember are word fragments All pretty flowers are in full bloom All sway in songs of calls Aiming to own my dream groom I hope to conquer […]
COME TO PLAY
Come to play Say okay Mum and dad are out today With their canes and shouting Please say yay Then we’ll have a fun fun time Come to play It’s a sunny day Jump about and hop around You can kneel and stretch out And shout loud No one’s here to stop us now […]
TSANWENWENWENWENWENWENWEE
Fumes from rickety cars Debris of scraps scattered Stains of diesel paints the ground An unbearable noise from a motor on the right An unbearable noise from cars in front, back and left While the stench from the public toilet nearby Sells nasty archaic foods in the air Diesel stained finger nails feel the heat […]
FOR THE GIRL IN ME
A talk for the girl in me, A smile for this A laugh at that A hand that will let me be A walk for the girl in me A walk like this A hop like that A jump that will make me see A love for the girl in me A face […]
CARE IN WEAR
A little pleasure Causes a seizure Or a treasure; Individual differences A little mistake Can make or unmake So please do take Your thoughts with you to pleasure-land For passion Without vision Is like swimming without water. Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia (c) 2014 (Picture from www.russianpaintings.net)
UNFORTUNATE STRANGER
A leg in the cold, A leg in the warm, My arms battle to fold. I hear threats of harm As I plod on a strange land. My head is under the money charm Rendering my heart sold I yearn for a familiar arm To ease this cold But feelings of homely needs do my […]
THE INGRATE
To my consternation She harshly caused an abrasion On her skin and poured a libation For what she deems beautiful, an abomination! She tactfully told her maker That He was too careless a baker For watching her blacken in the burner Making her decisions sterner If a cook causes a blunder, Can the […]
KEEP ME, A PRAYER LIKE A TODDLER’S
In your hands Like the shell of the tortoise on distant lands Do me keep Draw a boundary And make it my country And like a protected bird, make me fly In your band Like kids play in the sand Keep me happy I hear the bangs And teeth of enemies clang […]
IT IS VANITY UPON VANITY
What do we want? What are we doing? Why are we aiding time When we need our souls to race time? It is vanity upon vanity Crying in seclusion Shattering our own hearts Into million pieces Under the teary eyes of dumb ceilings, It is vanity upon vanity Quickly putting together our hearts […]
CATCH, CRUCIFY AND CASTRATE HIM
Inventions, to die for. Theories, treasures. Some have no measures And no sense Why will one make a god Of paper which can cause us to Kneel in degradation? A giver for need A taker only to give One without needs accumulates As the needer kneels in shame As the common paper taunts When bored […]
A BEAUTIFUL CARRIER
She was a good carrier And a pain reliever She is a pure lover And a life keeper She is a tower And can be a flogger She is way stronger And makes her opinion clearer She is my bearer And my corrector She is my pain sufferer My mother. Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia © 2014
MAKE NO MISTAKE, NONE CARES
Polished legs thread from far To the cenotaph of the martyr Outside this cenotaph is an expensive son et lumiѐre Some ears are cocked in pretence When they obviously take strolls In the opposite direction! He gave his life on a strange land But who cares? Male minds respond to the calls of the brazen […]
EARS OF FOOLISHNESS STANDS
Your oration of war abeyance Reduces no annoyance I won’t be used as your lance To ride pretty horses as you dance To the tune of their rhythm while keeping your balance There’s been the wasted chance That makes me look askance At your words whose flaws are enhance’ Nothing will suffice, publishing banns […]
IN LOVE’S DOOM
When the trees in love sway, The dogs in love lay, The horses cheer in a sleigh, And the chickens with their chicks stray, You are all that fills me and so I pray That I’ll meet your stay. When you made me choose between you, the station The children or the nation A […]
I’M DISABLED, EAT YOUR LAUGHTER
My limb was given for the safety of humanity
To stop their being slaughtered like chickens
His is as a result of an unfair accident
Hers a natural disaster
Mouths which yap before knowing
CONFUSE THE CROWD
When they do you push Into the bush Confuse the crowd and act proud When they push you into a ditch And call you a bitch Confuse the crowd and act proud When they dig a pit And you fall in the shit Confuse the crowd and act proud When they sit […]
TRY THIS
Conquer hurt Conquer diseases Conquer hurdles Conquer pain Conquer poverty Conquer loneliness Conquer failure Conquer attacks Try a smile, It works magic. Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia (c) 2014.
KIDDY STUNTS
Your physique has made you rabid Your growth in anger rapid Many have put on you a bid That you’ll soon grow stupid. Why this sudden morbid Fascination of the sordid? Sit back, let them judge from what you did Instead of doing what will make you a kid Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia (c) […]
O YE CHRISTIANS!
“Lord kill my enemies” They forget they’re also children of God “Lord open success doors” Sometimes they do forget it goes hand in hand with hard work “Lord close every eye to my folly” They forget “a man reaps what he sows” “Lord why me?” Who should it be if it shouldn’t […]
THE IRRITANT
When I hear the chuckling And sees her mouthy pouting I feel like throwing my fist and giving her a sound beating The irritant! When I see her dressing And many complementing I feel like throwing my fist and giving her a sound beating This irritant! When she does her taunting By pulling […]
WISDOM HIDES GLARINGLY
The eye watches It is a powerful tool Good or bad, no cram needed Just pick a thing. His biodata your eye watches No matter how intense it spells fool His life’s pen cannot be weeded Neither can yours, so just pick a thing Pencils are like torches They can be on and […]
A WORD WHORE
I am covered by the clothes of darkness Covered as I sit in utter madness Eyes see but ears hear more So my voice runs to the fore These clothes cover my weakness This weakness of grave meekness Which makes me a word whore Although I have never read law Perhaps light would […]
STOP IT, NO DO IT
If you play the low, I’ll leave, you know Stop it, no do it I’m feeling the heat under the beat Stop it, no do it I’ve lost control and I’m going slow Stop it, no do it Where will it end if I don’t pretend Stop it, no do it […]
UNLIKE POLES FOR ME
Will I leave a giant tree And go for flat earth When I own no giant tree And only own a flat earth? Will I leave a broad chest To go for a standing chest When I have no broad chest And only have a standing chest? I love what I love Though […]
SAVE THE LAUGHTER FOR LATER
Are you laughing Because you are pretty and sitting As the general factotum Is given the ultimatum To do your bidden Or risk being beaten and ridden Like a horse? It becomes pitiable and sorrowful When the fool thinks herself wonderful Even when the world sees her foolery. Look carefully And picture her in your […]
THE POWER OF WORDS
I can lie here on my bed Fighting fair with few words This does not mean I am afraid Bring your cutlass, bring your gun If I could only get my words across Destroying my body erases them not There’s no way my words will rot Until eternity they’ll ring in your head Then […]
THE COOK WITH THE BLESSED HANDS
It has no sympathy It would have waited a while For you to taste the soup you brewed with love before having you for supper There is also the gods’ apathy Contributing to your being taken Before your soup was done Half done, I cried tears of blood, seeing as other cooks tended […]
DIFFERENT VEGETABLES, SAME GOAL
The taste of pepper differs From the taste of onion The taste of tomato differs From the taste of carrots The taste of cucumber differs From the taste of green beans But like soldiers with different abilities, They, under the commander of fire, hold hands to fight the enemy of hunger […]
MUTILATORS
God gave me a full house To welcome a special visitor and pleasurably keep his gifts Which will prepare themselves to be my eyes When my sight fails, To be my legs When my mobility wanes, To be my mind When my thoughts fail, To be my hands When shivers overtake them. Why then do […]