Set me a boxing ring And pair me with years, Bring them one after the other Years are proving troublesome With every step they give more weight to the mind Years must be slashed generation after generation backward To take back the weight on the mind Since we cannot empty the ink in their […]
For a mystic unknown Much hatred is shown For a mythical blessing There are many hate lessons So this one says hurtful things to that one And that one cuts the ear of this one And the brother of this one kills that one What is their aim? To please one who has never been […]
When passions erupt And sanity prevails Chaos abounds We met as enemies Found a common ground Until our hearts were chained By an un-openable lock Then your head generated heels Then my head generated heels We went to places our hearts screamed We went to places where misery reigned And now we are […]
I can tell you pride has been sold For power in my home For the first man status, a sheep clothe was worn. To be the keeper of all, A known affluence was paraded But a lion could never stay in a sheep clothe forever It tore free immediately it landed on the stool […]
It is a perfect creation A machine to sieve and produce One to give pleasure and satisfaction Not an imperfection calling to be perfected It is a machine of perfection Which cleans itself with every growth And has the decency to close and open Under the instruction of a mind on top There […]
A land of plus A land of negative, A flower of happiness A flower of sadness, Life Death, They are three and three Though everyone identifies with the flowery, The negatives have been ordained from above So their powers bluff rejecters Because they know they are boarders to their journeys When rejecters reach their […]
I wake to a void An emptiness and an ache I am like the calabash without content, The river without water, The house without a tenant, The president without citizens, The bulb without light, The beautiful valley without lilies To what end can a smile travel to my face? If only donkeys knew the […]
No matter the level of drought In the sky There’s the occasional dewdrop A little is better than none None is none So who wants none When he can have it all? Let tongues travel Across the sea and back Making me infamously famous It is a starved plant which hears its stomach […]
He was my bodyguard And became my cover cloth Then turned into my sweet dreams Like an effective god He ruled my world Without him, all malfunctioned Then a flirty wind blew him far Into the arms of a fiery witch Who had a battle with love I saw, I wept, And […]
If you see a cranky old Asante Think no further; He’s been denied “fufu” for days If you see a cranky old Northerner Think no further; His smoking “pito” has been stolen by the kids If you see a cranky Ewe, Think no further; He’s been denied :akple”, hot pepper and keta school […]
How can I paint? How can I paint a white sheet white A black sheet black, A red sheet red, A yellow sheet yellow And a green sheet green? What will I be showing to the world? You claim I paint you When you clearly paint and stand out What I paint is what is […]
An ugly fixture Can be a god A horrible mixture Can be a cure In my worst I try my best To make me a god Once in a while Then like a peacock I spring back to life, Stretch my wings And let the world see The me which slept. Dear friend, […]
By a dint of thought She realised she’s always fought Fought for the general umbrella of her faith Fought for the general umbrella of her tribe Fought for the general umbrella of her gender Fought for the general umbrella of her family Then why do the rains flog her? All the rains flog […]
Don’t crush the skull You must be distraught, I know You are a sufferer Because many pull your skin Wanting you to follow their path to a creature across the sky A path that they claim has been hidden behind death Don’t crush the skull You must be tired like stuck bottled water wanting […]
In countless words told I could easily break in a thoughtless hold For many cagy stitchy words The machines kept busier with their mouths than hungry birds To paint the picture of my frailty Interfering with my mental agility Your back must please in a pleasurable bed It doesn’t have to be […]
She preferred eyes seeing the glitters Than its internal shivers Though the tears from the wall flowed And its outside glowed Some minds slowed Wanting to know what all the glitters entailed But she perfectly gave the watcher a warning detailed To keep eyes from prying And her from shying In the midst of […]
In her bid to get medicine to combat age Ako travelled far to meet a sage The sage asked why she needed to combat age To be immortal was her answer to the sage The sage tells her about age’s rage And threats of putting Ako in a cage The sage had for her […]
He sought to break What he could not shake in its fury He sought to beat What he could not fight at its strongest He slacked when time slept In its weakest moment He forgot to fix the cracks on his happiness, To ruin the battle of his sorrow, To beat the taunting teeth of […]
They needed the inedible sardine But not the working fish They sat and watched It struggling When It was of their flesh And never thought of helping When It finally bobbed up bellywise in a breathless wave They hired an expensive can To transport it to the keeper freezer To keep it fresh for […]
Love, I have been quiet, noisy Foolish, and even suicidal Just to get your attention But it seems it makes you all the more furious Let the chicken dance like an antelope To the hawks, it will still be seen as meat I see the monstrous hands you kneel to The ears which […]
Use those eyes To look within That you Who is like a dog’s coprophagia nature Have the nasty habit Of relishing your stool and the nasty ones of others When none watches So be no chirper of another’s trait Yours when unveiled to eyes May send legs running like elephants […]
In this crazy multitude I aim to lend this story I’m living some verisimilitude ‘Life is how you make it’ is a now a boring platitude In the noise, I cringe at the seeming solitude Sometimes, I sit in gratitude Even though like the blind tomorrow’s happenings I know not in exactitude My heart breeds […]
The picture you paint Forces me to mentally repaint I deem it quaint But it makes me enjoy the scenery you paint And thank my stars for having you and I acquaint I have no complaint There’s no way my name by you will have a bad taint I can never faint Neither must I […]
We all swam to this shore Those who cherish their ears Wish to hear to no avail Those who cherish their eyes Wish to see to no avail Those who cherish their mouths Wish to speak to no avail Those who cherish their noses Wish to smell to no avail Those […]
In this limitful existence There are many in resistance Of losing Power in abundance Yet sit in a trance As Power walks through their entrance And floats in the air Power, oh Power! Why do you make them shudder? Like he-goats they suffer and sniffer To get into the back of their lovers They are […]
Exhausts venomously deplete I cannot stand many’s tune as they fashionably compete Unseen fumes from coolers happily maim While inventions to revive crops have a common aim Of hurting the rivers of my eyes And changing its colours with their respective dyes Bones of machines lie on my flesh and heavily pinch The little hair […]
Whispers of the walls Connive with whispers of the ground They in turn seek the attention of the mouth of the surrounding And scream in whispers “Be in the dark, blend with his shadow Shadows like yours cannot be seen It must always act like the backing vocalist behind the screen” What do I do […]
INVINCIBLE Tears of the rain Blend with its nature The heat of the fire Regarded as its natural attribute The tired legs of the wind Never will be seen To see, their clothes must fit An impossibility! We must look beyond the normal To fit perfectly and make use of our […]
Under the veil Sits filth which is being washed to no avail Under the veil Hides a naughty machine which is always on a sail Under the veil Cries a toothless path shouting for a mail Under the veil Lies the deception, which when caught cannot be bailed Under the veil […]
She climbed a tree with no caution The tree was the home of bees All she had to do to exasperate them was sit Her bruised and lifeless body was seen beneath She climbed a tree with no caution Its branches were not strong for her weight She sat, it snapped. Her broken bones […]
Thoughts of the Fante gallants
Subdued by harmless guns
As they plead
“M’agya etu, mepawokyew
Menkum me ai! Mere ke sonkyi maaba”
To a mouthless gun kills my spirit over and over again
Here and there We go High or low We flow Winged in wizardry They claim our show But we are the planters They chew The singers Who help their hearts soothe And the beautifiers Who fill their view Our homes now keep them warm Our foods they lick in pleasure But have no pity […]
These questions I ask,
Please freeze your temper
And raise your hands to your guards
To freeze their ears
I am only talking to you and you alone
I am at a yellow position Watching your quick reds And your greens As they switch in fast paces against me Giving my thoughts no rest And my heart no peace I have been at this position Waiting for you to come to a decision And help me be at ease My chest cannot […]
It is raining
But I am not seeing
I know you’re seeing
But choose to let time do the telling
Like a real gentleman, you choose modesty to boasting
You ask me if I’m shy
For me to mention this, I’m shy
For me to see this, I cry
And for this to happen I ask why?
Stomach cut in
"I store all your belongings,
I look through with my crew and throw some out
To make sure everyone is all-right-"
"Then you must be the financial minister"
Buttocks cut in and continued
Have you ever watched a snapshot and wished to be in it? Have you ever watched time and wished to be its tail? Have you ever watched the birds and hoped for wings? Have you ever seen eyes you hope for as mirrors? Like a painting you hang on my every wall I turn […]
“Y’ani abre, y’ani abre kↄↄ Y’ani abre, y’ani abre kↄↄ” Chant demonstrators who in years past sang “Onoaa n’ἐko oo, Ↄnoaa n’ἐko oo Onoaa n’ἐko oo, Ↄnoaa n’ἐko oo Obiara nim sἐ ἐyἐ ↄnoaa n’ἐko oo Obiara nim sἐ ἐyἐ ↄnoaa n’ἐko oo” Qwaqwaqwaqwaqwaqwaqwa I laugh in all types of languages As I […]
Oration of chastity Parading of nudity Inculcation of sincerity Akweley passed the test of “Sonimouni” No rice or corn ingestion She was bathed in a river with admonition Of family ties and connection By the gathering of all hands to eat “Ho fufui” Her hands were trained on the culinary Her skills, […]
Stories are told Of a vicar who only preached About hell fire and its recipe He expounded on lies Fornication, Adultery, Divorce, Lack of submission, Quarrelling, Lack of respect, Cheating, And many others His bulky wife had a mouth as sharp as a double edged sword She was a lioness who wore angelic clothes in […]
This leaf is raddled Saddled by the reigns of ageing Ageing which happily flaunts its job To the fascination of time And takes ridiculing as its compliment This leaf is raddled Raddled though it is It has seen all shades of the sun; Mild, seductive, angry, angered, and frightening But none blinded it […]
Eyes like owls’ Faulty at your sight Eyes so bulky Saw all perfectly but you Heart like mules’ Faulty at your touch Heart so healthy Felt all well but you Head of a genius Faulty at your reading Head so thoughtful Thought all else well but you Now they mourn in unison […]
There’ll come a time Pens will write by themselves Seeds will grow themselves Foods will cook themselves Cars will drive by themselves Airplanes will fly by themselves Ships will sail by themselves News will announce itself Houses will build themselves Sicknesses will heal themselves Countries will rule themselves All bodies will be listless And obese […]
When the wind blows It is alright I’ll shield its blows And hope for sunlight When the sun shows It is alright I’ll enjoy its mild flows And hide from its fright When the rain falls It is alright I’ll only walk tall Until I reach a shaded light When it is […]
Laugh from the heart Because we are here for a while, Only a while. We are balloons We are like balloons; Flat at birth, Blown to be big and beautiful Only to burst Or our air let out Little by little until weakness catches up And little holes make themselves in us Then we are […]
That will be one saviour appliqué
So she lies like a helpless bulldog
Being dug, cut and licked like a dog
Her beautiful features are giving way
Giving way for horrific skin which cannot sway
She is the punching bag of all desperadoes
As her bodyguards always play the rondos
Salad leaves are no kontomire leaves And I am no goat in a coat Coffee is not for the energetic And I am no weakling Heavy furs are not for the heated And I am forever perspiring Losing to make-up is not for the natural And I am no artefact Throwing fists is not for […]
I am a whore There’s no need to deny I have dated from affable to acrid From brats to bastards, From cute to candid From dull to dunderheads From eloquent to the eleemosynary From foul to fantastic From gullible to giants From heartless to horrible From industrious to innocuous From jesters to jollies From kabuki […]
This is a clarion call You saw the dirty fall There is none in your net, no ball So why can’t we form a happy wall? This is a clarion call Let’s meet in the hall And walk hand in hand to the mall No need to be blinded by a blindy pall […]
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