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: GHANAIAN LITERATURE
SECRETS
All turn to mouth
Who swears to utter nothing
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 […]
ORDAINED APART; AN EXCERPT
I hid it all from many eyes
Though many noses sniffed
And gave it a chase,
I waited patiently for the chosen
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 […]
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
OBSESSION
At your thought Words disappeared I did them sought But none appeared At your touch I lose sight You don’t do much But my veins fight At your voice I stand erect Can’t say a choice And not a defect These feelings, This thought, These thrillings has me caught. Amoafowaa Sefa […]
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 […]
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 […]
THIS DEBAUCHEE
I’ll say my confession Hoping for an absolution And a subsequent redemption or salvation. I could perform an ablution If that can stop my obsession Or I could subject myself to gyration As an anointed wheel me in his direction I am in a sinful generation Correction is nothing but disruption I’ve gone from fabrication […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
NEITHER HERE NOR THERE
I am half baked bread Not edible nor a throw away I have been tutored to call the name of the resurrected When my woes open their mouths to consume me Or call for the parents of my grandparents Who have turned gods on another planet To come to my rescue The former being alien, […]
LET’S MEET UNDER THE COCOA TREE
Let’s dance under the moon light Where no one will put up a fight The moon will gladly give us light So our toes will be in plain sight Let’s admire our pretty natural selves With the fireflies who’ll watch themselves Me with my braided foamy hair You with your beautiful intense stare […]
HOW DO I GO HOME?
How do I go home? With empty hands and a clean conscience Or A full hand and a tainted conscience? How do I go home? Pouting like a barking dog Or swimming like a satisfied swan? How do I go home? With smiles on the faces of senders Or tears? How do […]
GIVE THANKS; CRAZY STANZAS
They bow, any time she speaks At a glance, many squeak and steal peeks They stand even when he wears a band At a glance, everyone extends a hand Then my eyes look at me, then at you And your eyes look at you then at me Fishes caught in the same boat? […]
THORNS OF LIFE
There is only a time for all Humans, animals, the world, yes, all In this rounded baited bit We have our serious parts to fit You cry you’re slow When the tortoise is low You lament of your beauty When the hippopotamus does its duty You complain of short life When […]
DONKOMI, THUMB POWERS
They hold it They hold it in their thumbs They hold it in pieces A great law by whomever So we will not be cheated But a handful of people come together And pat the backs of few, Grease the palms of some, Stroke the egos of some, And buy the thought of others with […]
NIGHTS WITH FRIGHTS
When darkness folds its arms around the earth And many living things rest fearing no death Goosebumps from beneath this skin cry Wishing you are nigh When the owls take charge And the bats seek charge These eyes which must close tight Wander and know that your presence will do right So which […]
CORPSES FOR SALE!
Corpses for sale! Many buy with huge sums Putting them in the river of the earth waiting for its sail Corpses for sale! Many run dressed in expensive clothes Hoping to win the fame bale Corpses for sale! Cars parade with expensive paintings While mouths with their keys proudly brag, “this came yesterday […]
FROM GRACE TO GRASS
Fitted in fitting suits With shiny shoes And smooth hands On his very own land, His covetousness leads him to the shores of whiteness His dreams have always been to surpass the surpasser But now like a donkey, his calloused hands holding alien machete, His tattered clothes shredded by unfriendly thorns, His bruised face scratched […]
I stubbornly hold onto my MP3 as the ear piece blast noise that I find pleasurable, not because of its smoothness, but because of the fact that it drowns the noise that is coming from my parents. I went to visit my friend in skimpy clothes, yes, came late, yes, that does not give them […]