Slave Mater's - Tawiah Aboagye Tawiah

SLAVE MASTER'S

 By

Tawiah Aboagye Tawiah 

 

 

I bleed…
Sweat seep…
Tears descend…
All from my brains
Memories of me
sitting on a bough of the baobab tree
Counting captives
chained underneath my forefathers shed
Stares at me in the soul

I did not know!
I never knew!
Grandpa said mirror is of value…
Papa said corned beef is vital…
Wofa said whisky is needed…
More than vulnerable men

Oh I helped to hung the gun
“It will shoot you if you move” papa warned
I sat and laughed breathlessly
As they seek permission from ‘egya etu’
And obediently returning after urinating

Oh yes! I helped count the men
‘This looks stronger…
 a good deal must earn us a mirror
We shall plead over the weaker ones
A tin of corned beef for each will do.

Grandpa rested,
wasting his lifetime in front of a mirror
Till the mirror cast no reflection of him
Papa was choked to death
by a meat bone from a corned beef
Uncle drunk his soul out
Choked his guts with whisky
till his breath finally seized
But I, was left in ignorance
Thirsting for answers…

Bring the traders to my feet
Cut this ones’ head!
Oh! So his blood is red?
Ah! So there is no god like a white man?
There is no god at the other end of the sea?
Whom our natives are going to serve?
I need no elder to tell me the answer.

The Winning Poems - MICROPOETRY

Week One Winner - James Robert Myers

Untitled

As I give myself this
Constant reflection, I imagine,
My inner feelings broaden
Your beauty accentuates your trousers
Then I fall to grounds

Week Two Winner - Kwame Acquah Storbee

The Landmines

No doubts feuds abound,
In this love I found.
But lo, I am bound
Not placing her t’ ground,
A landmine it may sound.

Week Three Winner - Paul Forjoe Junior

In Five Lines I write, In Five Vowels I Might

Abuse accordingly, an act astronomical
Evolving egos, eclipses, even explicit
Inconclusive idioms intertwined in irony
Odd orgasms outstanding on offer
United unilaterally under unseen unison

Week Four Winner - Philip Boakye D. Oyinka

Untitled

You were taught to run
There’s fire on the mountain;
But stay where you are
The sea is my tenant,
Let fire call his boast.

Week Five Winner - Nana Kwesi E. Dadson

Love

Love runs our hearts through
To make the skies blue,
It is one but two;
Abstract but true
It’s us, me and you.

Week Six Winner - Sharon Tracy Phonos

Untitled

The trees are my home
And I wonder if
It is my soul’s song
To breathe sweet scented air
And never forget my roots.

Week Seven Winner - Edzordzi Agbozo

Husago

When our sunset draws near
Oh, let the old old
Backwards forward dance: Husago
Lead us to the other
Phase of life.

MICROPOETRY- The Contest

On the 31st of July, 2010, Write To The World and Open Air Theatre started the first ever "Micropoetry raddio contest" in the nation. The "catch" was to get poets to Say More With Less. MICROPOETRY therefore cam into force and lasted 8 weeks.

The concept of MICROPOETRY was built around the notion that poets culd say so much with their very few words and yet make meaning and even entice readers further. Thus, in the MICROPOETRY contest, poets were required to write a very short poem in this format: 5 Lines and Not more than 5 Words per line, totalling not moore than 25 words for the entire poem. It was required that the poem have a full meaning, not be vague, and could touch on any theme the poet so chose.

The poets were then asked to submit the poems via a text line on Sundays, the day on which Open Air Theatre was aired on Radio Univers 105.7fm (Greater Accra). The poets had a maximum of 24hrs to submit their poems to the text line. All poems wee then collated at the end of the day and judged by Write To The World and Open Air Theatre. The winner for the week was selected and contacted. For all the eight weeks, a winner was selected per week, except for one week where there were no submissions.

MICROPOETRY played well on its first run and very soon the winning poets and their winning poems will be posted on many site including this one and One Ghana One Voice, Write To The World, K-Hitz Radio and Writers Project Of Ghana.

We want to say CONGRATULATIONS to the Winners and a Big THANK YOU to all who made it a reality.

Default Invetion - Duke Benson

Default Invention

by Duke Benson 

 

A designer, a creator, a scientist, an engineer
Those are my appellations
I design, I invent
All in my lab

Of all my inventions
There are two
Device 1, codenamed XY
Device 2, codenamed XX
And both have two antennas

XY has two antennas
Y1 and Y2
Y1 is transmission only
Y2, also transmission only

XX has two antennas too
X1 and X2
X1 transmits and receives
X2 transmits only

In my own likeness I made them
With my own knowledge I made them

By default
The devices work on their own
For maximum gain and efficiency
They must work together

But to work together
This algorithm they must follow

            XX sync XY
            Y1 transmit
            X1 receive

It’s simple, not complicated
No matter what anyone says
That’s the way I made them

My Name Is - Nana Asaase

My Name is

by Nana Asaase(Philip Boakye Dua Oyinka)

 

I am a seed of potent dreams and promises
Planted in a green desert;
A lonely dark cloud
Over an anxious dry plain;
A harvest of burdened expectancy.

I am a drop of living water
To the creaky limbs of a stranded warrior;
The fat sweat on a skinny brow;
The hope of a widow forest;
LET THIS TREE REMAIN!!!

The Red House - Tchaloco Mo

THE RED HOUSE...........................

by Tchaloco Mo 

Actuality of time.
the streets are
quiet,the birds
chasing after
the wind,the
kids pack their
toys,parents
rushing them
home.........
the streets are
filled with fears.
the smell of guns
powders run the
avenues.........
the place that use
to ressemble to
the sea,now,looks
more like a volcano.
i step down to my
door,cross to the
otherside.enter
the red building.
behind the door
the smoke of weed
knocked me off my
foot.catch my breath.
on my left,three
people are laughing,
on my right,a stair..
on the wall,there are
three pictures.......
all identical,back
grounded in black
with a red mark.
in the top-left
corner..............
i keep on walking
with every steps
getting heavy and
heavier;the sweat
dripping under my
shirt,my underwear
is getting wet....
when i look left,
the floor was cover
in red,a river of
blood,running down
the hallway..........
She,my onetime
friend,seating down
in a the couch;half
way dressed;motionless
staring straight at
the door but she was not
moving.the closer i get,
the details are coming.
in her room,on my left,
a splash of red paint
on the wall.............
at my right,the back
of her head,making
way to a big hole!
she died inside the
little red house............

The Loud Voice Of Silence - Akwele Patricia

THE LOUD VOICE OF SILENCE

by Akwele Patricia

I need reasons for speech
But need none for silence
I cannot see why
Yet I am not blind

Frustrated
I want to hear
I listen close
I cannot say a word
Even though it's loud in my head

Lost
I need to locate that drop of water admist the rain
That surrounds me
There I can catch a single voice in my head
A single voice within a thousand that deafens me

Loud silence is like the sun
Burning without a voice
Loud silence is like the stars
Screaming their beauty out

No one dared disturb the voice of silence
The loud voice of silence
It is the hardest argument to refute

 

Lost In A Dream - Prem Anand R

LOST IN A DREAM

Prem Anand R

Lost in a dream, sleepless awakening
violet skies between meadows of green
rivers of souls departed to the underworld
silver coins bribes upon the ferryman’s hand

Lost within my sleep, death calls and waits
twilight skies burning heavens above
as darkness came with thunder
storms brewing upon gods’ caldron of fate
flashes and screams echoes
to disturb the sleeper’s wake

Lost in a dream, I cast my dices to fate
upon the crossroads I wait for the deal
to be made with the salesman of Hades
came and bought my soul in a dream

Lost in a maze, a labyrinth of deceit and hate
men sell their souls for their pieces of dreams
gamblers twist lady luck to escape their fate
they become the balls, when the roulette turns and stops

Dreamers all of them, like me unable to awake
death waits between the cracks of shadow and light
life is the hardest to live upon expectations,
dreamers die young as their life burns away fast

Waiting to break out of the cycle of mundane
to live the life of an enigma of chaos
on a hill top high screaming at the heavens like a lunatic
found the dream but death got to it first

Seize the day and night,they hide
when death comes seeking
freedom is a price we take for granted
on speeches made by folk tongue
asleep on my bed, restless and in peace

lost in a dream between the rivers of soul
and the shadow of death,not to be awaken
unless dreams are found or lost in its nightmare
but now the bones and flesh are but a mere dust

delusional mirage becomes the real life
inner sanctum of reality shifts the imagination
freedom of flight that the weight of regrets lies
within the mind but none is taken by the heart

2011 ©PREM ANAND RETHINASAMY

Freeing My Mind - Selikem

FREEING MY MIND 2

I have over months tried to stay out of this GAY issue that is hitting the airwaves. I have battled with myself and conscience over whether I should write a piece on this issue or not but the happenings of this morning as I journeyed to work has given me the urge to write this. Before your prejudices sets in and you become all judgmental on me I will like to state categorically that this is not an attack on any religious group or persons but just my candid opinion of what I see and hear all around me. For the records if there is on group of people I detest so much in life it is the people who practice the sexuality of Gays and not for a second will I condone and connive with such act on any given day. I’m one of those who believes in change and not always conforming to all the ways of society, but on the issue of sexuality I adamantly stand for the view that a sexual relationship should be strictly between a MAN and a WOMAN and that my friends is the way it should be.
Now that at least you know my stand I will like to proceed with what I observed this morning whilst was listening to Kojo Oppong Nkrumah’s show on JOY fm when people called in to talk about gays and whether they will vote for or against any politician who supported gay rights. From my own estimation, because I lost count of the number people who called, 90 percent of them in their submissions made reference to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Bible stating categorically that it was because of Gayism that those two towns were destroyed by God. You see I have not been reading my Bible of late and for that I have no excuse whatsoever but hearing this, my mind went back to those days in Sunday school where I first heard this story. And not once did I remember that God said he was destroying Sodom and Gomorrah because it was a gay haven. To be sure and yet again double sure, I have re-read the story from the Bible again and it is not what we are presenting it to be. God told Abraham that he was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because of their wickedness and sinful ways and it is not until the verse 3 of Genesis chapter 19 that we get hint of gays being part of the township and this has raised a lot of questions in my head which might make me deviate from the course I want to take with this article concerning morality and religion.
Most often than not morality is Ghana is tied to Christianity as if other religions practiced in Ghana have no code of conducts or moral norms and values. I think our knowledge of right and wrong is innate in us. Religion gets its morality from humans. We know that we can't get along if we permit perjury, theft, murder, rape, all societies at all times, well before the advent of monarchies and certainly, have forbidden it... Socrates called his daemon, it was an inner voice that stopped him when he was trying to take advantage of someone... Why don't we just assume that we do have some internal compass. Now let’s look at it from this point. A man has a penis and a woman a vagina, the penis transports sperms from the scrotum into the vagina so the sperm can fertilize the egg in the fallopian tube and the result is pregnancy which metamorphoses into a human being after some 9 months and that is how we were all brought to this world. I therefore do not need religion to tell me that that is the way of life and that when I’m grown up and wants to have kids to I need a woman and not man to have sexual relationships with. Look let’s be realistic for once and hang our religious boots. Man is a primate. All primates have innate morality. A moral sense is vitally important to the efficient running of any society or group. There are no amoral primate groups anywhere. The Mafia have morals, baboons have codes. There are differences between the various groups and their codes of morality but all primate groups have some morals and standards of behavior. Religion is also very common but it is not universal and it did not cause the codes or the instinct to observe them. These are facts that need to be clearly stated. Morality does not require religion especially when it comes to the issues of seeing being gay as wrong.
There are some things which just are not right no matter how good we paint them. Like a decorated baboon they will always be a baboon. In my opinion, if God wants to punish Ghana now it not because of just Gays but also the numerous social vices that are prominent in our societies. Way before religion and for that matter all religions that are not indigenous to Ghana came to bear our forefathers had norms and values that guarded the integrity of our communities and it is that we should all stand for when it comes to this silly issue of gays
I’m beginning to feel that these gays and their issues are even gaining more prominence on our air waves than issues that really need to be discussed for the unification and development of our dear country spiritually, socially and economically. Let us see religion as a way to catch the attention in order to reinforce the messages of the natural morality that we as a humans are already responding to.

MICROPOETRY

Hey poetry fans and Geeks in the Greater Accra Region, It is finally here...

Write To The World and Open Air Theartre presents to you MICROPOETRY, a radio peotry contest.

Let me give you the jig.

5 lines + 5 words

Yes, that all it takes. Micropoetry is a contest meant to see if ports can actually say more with less. So write a 5 line poem with not more than 5 words and sub mit it. Below are compact details.

Contest: Micropoetry

Tag-line: Say More With Less

Organisers: WTTW & OAT

Supporters: Public Sense Advertising (PSA) & AfroMedia

Medium: Radio Univers 105.7fm

Time: 5:00pm t0 6:30pm
 

Purpose: Getting poets to cut short their long poems, encouraging brevity in poetry, saying more with less.
 

Format: A poem of not more than 25words with 5lines of not more than 5words per line.
 

Themes: General
 

Style: no style but a rhyming piece will be good.
 

Submission: Via Text Only

Number of submissions: 1 per poet per week.
Prizes: Ranging. BRANDED T Shirts, Call Credit, Posters of WTTW or OAT, Invite to OAT, follow-ups by WTTW & other groups.
Duration: weekly for 8 weeks, extension possible. Submissions will be done only within the 24hrs of Sundays only..

So there you have it. Let's go micro. You will have to listen to Open Air Theatre (OAT) for full details and rules.

More info on our Facekook's event Wall.

All inquiries should be directed to Kofi on +233247815068

Sponsors

Who Am I? - Prem Anand R

Who am I? 

By Prem Anand R

Who am I?
I am the like the sun
Drowning in its watery depths
...To bring forth the dark page
To create words with stars
The beauty of the night
The moon its infinity mark
To question each insanity
That invades our mind

Who am I?
I am like the falling moon
That dissolves into the sea
To create ripples of words
A constant flowing ring
Coming back to you
An inspiration of a new day

The auburn strokes
On a white page
Floating in its blue shade
Gives birth to new illusions
That the painter creates
The art of words
That frees the sprite within
From the shadows of pain

Who am I?
I am like the droplets of rain
That soaks into your mind's page
Creating the soul from your heart
A storm raging a flood
Of endless thoughts in turmoil
With pain and rage
Then only a drizzle remains
And peace at last,comes to its mind

Who am I?
I am like the gentle breeze
That blows words to describe
The meaning of each stanza
To lift you up into the dreams
You seek from the nightmares
Raging the heart with no peace
Destroying every closed mind
Then opening them to each line

Who am I?
I am the enigma
Of many lives spent
A letter in every word
A word in each sentence
The space between stanzas
The rhymes and reasons
Or none at all
The silent voice
That shouts words written
And if you still question this gift
Then this riddle is already too long
To question who am I

©PREM ANAND RETHINASAMY

Tell Her (1) - Kwame Ghansah

Tell Her (1) - June 13 2011

by Kwame Gh 

 

Running around
As if nothing matters at all
Thinking and imagining the unthinkable
Trying to touch the untouchable
This exists nowhere but in here

After sensing my tell him
Great minds surely think alike
With this I jumped and exclaimed
She loves me, she loves me not
But I concluded to myself, she loves me

What do I tell her now?
If I could write her a song
Then, I’m yours would be best
If it had to be anybody, it was you
Baby, I’m yours

Beautiful is your name
Wonderful is who you are to me
Seeing you in my dreams
Addresses my comfort zone
My soft spot for you is just my pillow

I know you do not know now
But, I am telling you too now
I cherish you beyond now
Thinking of you now
But what happens after all these thoughtful thoughts

It couldn’t be only me
But all I ask is try me
The beacon that is experienced
From thinking about you
Is worth getting you to know

The end of the beginning is yet to come
But the hurt is that,
You still do not know that I know
Who will help me tell her?
I love you

Kw_Addy™

Lost Love - Albert Kofi Owiredu

LOST LOVE

by Albert Kofi Owiredu

(Massy’s letter to Alex)

Music playing
In the background,
Thoughts of you
Crowding my head,
I scribble this letter
To you
That you’d find
Time to read
Whatever happened to you?
You were my all

Right now
I see you
In blue pants
And a neat white
Sweat shirt
Walking up to me
With a smile
This beautiful
As if we were friends
You introduce yourself
And ask of my name
‘I’m Agnes
But call me Massy’
I say

Music playing
In the background
Thoughts of you
Crowding my mind
I remember
How I couldn’t stop
Picturing your face
And how it would feel
In those muscled arms
Had I fallen
At first sight?
I had


I hear Luther Vandross
Do killing me softly
And I melt
In tears
Like I did
In love
When you asked me out


Music playing
In the background
Thoughts of you
Crowding my mind
Everyday saw us
Share a kiss
Hold hands
I felt so safe
In your arms

I am in your bed
And you beside me
Holding me tight
An assurance
It won’t hurt
I let you in
It didn’t hurt really
I loved you more
Your sheet stained
Your eyes spoke of
A love undying

Music playing
In the background
Thoughts of you
Crowding my mind
You are so furious
I didn’t tell you
I got pregnant
And got rid of it
I love you
I would want you
Stuck with me
For love
And everything we shared
Not an unwanted pregnancy

You couldn’t forgive
I killed your blood
It was my blood too
You couldn’t forget
I did it
When you didn’t know


Music playing
In the background
Thoughts of you
Crowding my mind
My eyes are tired
From crying
And my heart
From bleeding
I miss you

I bet you miss me
The happy moments
The sad ones
Everything


Music playing
In the background
Thoughts of you
Crowding my mind
My pride
Couldn’t bring me
Down on my knees
To say sorry
Right now
I am really sorry
I love you
Please forgive
And forget.

(c) June 14 2011 Owiredu Albert Kofi

Want To Be Heard Outside Too - J Felix Ametepe

>WANT TO BE HEARD OUTSIDE TOO<

 

by J Felix Ametepe

I shout inside me and you hear me,

I shout love outside me but unheard,

My eyes speak and meaning is conveyed to the heart,

My heart beeps and emotions act on,

My lips act and heart reject.

How can i speak love with my heart?

Because loving you is all i care.

I want to be heard outside too

The Last Dance - Prem Anand R

The Last Dance

 

by Prem Anand R

Torn is the hearts that bleeds
For lovers lost as the dawn bleeds
From the dusk that only in twilight brings
That night and day collides in crimson bane

We will meet like cursed lovers torn
Like magical verse from ranting born
Seeking darkness where once light shone
Beneath the graves of lover’s torn

Free spirits that rise to embrace
Misty dancers of lover’s dead
Fleeting with graceful solace
Starry nights with lunar shines

Shadows play between its light
Silence is as crickets play
An orchestra of nature swings
With fireflies are nature‘s stars

Shining like a guiding light
For the path of broken hearts mend
And the lovers dance their last dance
By the graves of Romeo and Juliet

2010 © PREM ANAND RETHINASAMY

How Do You Feel - Akwele Patricia

HOW DO YOU FEEL?

by Akwele Patricia 

 

I know you want me to confide in you, telling you my worries, my pain, my joys, excitement even pouring out my anger and frustration. But do you feel what i feel or you feel pouring out my emotions makes me feel you actually know what i feel, feel what i feel and share in my sentiments? Now, i really want to tell you what i feel. You don't need to react with words cos your actions speak more than a thousand words, or would you pretend to feel what i feel? Do i even know what i feel? Wait! I think i do. It's my emotions and i think it's gonna burst and explode my whole being. How would that make me look? OMG! I get it... It's my PASSION. It's slowly eating me up. I can't cease to get hold of myself... can't cease to have enough of what I love... can't cease to have enough of... enough of...

I find myself doing only what i love paying less or no attention to the rest (hmmm what the heart wants) although they're necessary. My passion's become my poison and is slowly eating me up and I don't know what to do. Do you feel what i feel? How can i live without my passion? It's like living without love. No! I can't live this way... I couldn't deal with it. Can you put yourself in my shoes? I guess it wouldn't fit, right? You don't feel what i feel after all, do you? But do you want to feel what i feel? Then listen; my passion is my world and my world has turned against me. My love for people has actually made me take steps that, for some reason, I can't tell how, have come to hurt those i love, and eventually myself. My love for art is sinking so deep replacing essential and equally important activities in my life. My quest for excellence and intelligence has driven friends away from me. Did they even love me? They could've at least bared it but maybe i was too blind to see. My heart for preferences has turned me against other options... Yes there are pros and cons to everything under the sun but little did i expect to feel this way. Do you feel what i feel? Are emotions to be understood or felt? Is the language of the heart meant for the heart or for the mind? Can i confide in you or you suggest i get a book that'll feel what i feel by the ink?

I just poured out my emotions... I just poured out how i feel. Look at you... What are you thinking of? Now do you actually feel the connection, or you understand the feeling? Thanks for trying my shoes on even though they don't fit. I bet yours don't fit mine either...

Drug Abuse - Kwaku Sonny

DRUG ABUSE

by Kwaku Sonny 

 

Drugs like Marijuana, Heroine and Cocaine
Can destroy your brain
Because of the substances they contain
So refrain and abstain
It cause me so much pain
To see people who have been trained
By the country to maintain, retain and sustain
Our economy are dealing in cocaine
Can someone please explain?
This is not what Ghana bargained
It grieves me more to see our leaders and businessmen who conspire
to import drugs that have expire
At the detriment of other peoples life for their own selfish desire
Who do they intend inspire ?
To me, this is dire
We have to relocate and locate to a better location
We have to generate and regenerate our generation
We have dissociate and associate ourselves to a good association
Nobody has been able to trace
The source of this menace
Drug abuse is something we must not embrace
It is covering our space at a fast pace
And i think it is a disgrace
People take drugs for pleasure
Others take them to overcome their pressure
But for most young ones it is through curiosity and peer-pressure
All I want to tell you is that keep your composure
and limit your exposure
Don’t become a problem for the community
Don’t become a burden on society
Keep your integrity
and preserve your dignity
Don’t let the illicit use of drugs be your habit
Else you will become a drug addict
Please! Please!! Please!!! QUIT

A Poet's Suicide Note - Reason AbledArtist

a poet's suicide note

by Reason AbledArtist 

 

the wind threatens to uproot everything standing on feeble foundations

if my soul flies with it to some far-flung sanctuary or floats around to fill mortal lungs with breath

before my flesh feeds the crawling creatures of the undergrowth, my conscious mind should part with these words:

if there was ever a genuine happiness in this life, it was of our will and doing

if there was ever a reality, it was moulded from the ribs of our aspirations

if indeed there was ever love, it must've been the phenomena that mimics our daily dreams and savours in our daily deeds

from this life i take nothing but my mind to be my only companion

and to my mother, i leave the body she bore to burry

to my friends, before my memory dissipates into small particles of nothingness, remember that i shared my dreams and my love with you

A Lonely Angel - Poet Love

A Lonely Angel..

by Poet Love

A lonely angel with broken wings
Sitting, waiting for light from heaven
Show me the light, hold my hand,
Walk me through, make me a complete angel
Take me where I belong to, take me back to heaven.

A Gathering Of Angels - Ray Bell

A gathering of angels

by Ray Bell

 

Slowly and certainly time begins to run aground this moment all encompassing yet contains no sound only relieved but terrified emotion feverish prayers and a purified devotion on a scale impossible to comprehend we stand like warriors with nothing to defend perhaps its the way time and space must compress out of this room turn off the light a new emptiness why has man always needed an ending so damn proud too stoic remaining unbending sometimes thoughts dreams even reasons run there course maybe we must await the four each riding an unearthly horse even if it doesnt come to pass it leaves strange chills i really do not long to see a gathering of angels

DAUGHTERS OF EVE II - Adjei Agyei-Baah

DAUGHTER OF EVE II

by Adjei Agyei-Baah 

Along my way, came this daughter of Eve
Whom I thought my life could thrive
She was an angel of contours and design
Of which every man would stop to pen & sign
My emotion started to blaze like a wild inferno
For I’d wished I could fondle her like the piano
But suddenly I heard a voice in the faculty of my sanity
Saying: vanity, vanity, vanity, all is vanity
For deep within I’d lust & thrust
Oh what a silliness! I’ve sin against the Lord of Just
Where lies my peace?
Neither in a limo nor a hearse
But only in the steadfast faith of my Lord God
In whose beautiful garden Eve first trod.

Adjei Agyei-Baah (C) Copyright ~ 2011 All Rights Reserved

Daily Diamdems, Archaic Anthems! - Elorm Beenie

Daily Diamdems, Archaic Anthems!

by Elorm Beenie Anku 

 

Religion against religion
Nation against nation
Faction against faction
Daughter against mother
Son against father
Uncles envying nephews
Niece always negating auntie’s views
Faculty against faculty
University graduates challenging authority,
Primary, secondary and tertiary over policies of school authority,
School syllabus crafted to confuse student fraternity.

Politicians always reaching for more selfish goals
Thus thumping the poor with extra poverty
Without apology....
The city smells bloody!

It’s a pity,
I’m hungry,
No food for my belly,
No money in my pocket
Very soon they'll roll another suicidal budget,
Oh Jah!
No wonder
They always see us as puppets
Poor puppets
On a string
They always fling...

Tears always gather in my eyes
When I see my ignorant ghetto folks believe them in their political lies,
Wish I had a better pillow to lay my head
On a cozy bed
And forget all these mass baseless and endless problem;
But if I gloss it over and go sleep in bed,
Who would fight for the poor?
Who would take the challenge to shamelessly for sure
Write about this political mayhem?

Naked and Dangerous - Rex Nii Brown

naked and dangerous

by Rex Nii Brown

I'm naked and dangerous
when ever you come closer to me
you don't leave the same way
you either leave satisfied or in pain
yes I'm naked and dangerous

you exit my presence with
your hand in your mouth
trying to expose my deeds to the world
better still happy and laughing out loud
yes I'm not always cruel, I'm kind to those
who knows how to handle
yes I'm naked  and dangerous

when with me do not rush, or  else
I will increase my temple and you will
not like the result after wards
yes I'm naked and dangerous, very dangerous
yes I'm the naked  fire flames, beware of me

I am a court jester in the Queen's language - Xolile Sizephe

I am a court jester in the Queen's language

by Xolile Sizephe 

 

I am a court jester in the Queen's language. I have for too long entertained the idea that intelectual thought can only be conveyed in English. In the courtyard of my 72 page hardcover, on my A4 stage I have juggled metaphors, swallowed adages amd flipped similes to leave my audience in awe at the sheer skill of my lingustic trickery at the end of my penned performances.

But I was the one tricked.

As my grip on the Queen's languages tightened with every book, every scribbled note, every article and every dictionary consultation, I gained valuable things but lost my priceless native tongue. I am a servant to my word masters not a master of words. I have wasted the inheritance my elders left me and I have robbed my children of their mother. Their mother who's toungue is tied with culture, the language she speaks decodes our origins. My mother's tongue lovingly gives us pride in who we are but I swallowed my pride...and vomited remarks.

"Bloody blacks!" *cough* "that's so ignorant" *heavy breathing* "so ghetto" *wiping my mouth* and flushing the dirty toilet paper of my preceptions down the stereotyped toilet. My people's history has bloody stains. My people are gifted, creative thinkers as are all people. It is not in our culture to be poor, we are the heirs of green kingdoms that have chosen to adopt the poverty of a second hand culture. The prodigal son returns home.

Are We There Yet? - Emon Fire

Are we there yet?

by Emon Firé

 

getting there, soon good come by here
getting there, all things are mine

delusion of a charismatic nature.
manuscipt of illusion, prestige remains enigmatic

getting there, soon BIG come by here
getting there, these dreams shall come true

music television purposed, picked by genre
hungry mismatched realities, lost eState.

Getting there, remix all fear
getting there, sometimes we have to shed a tear

Selfless Sacrifial motives move Life's changes.

Unwhitening The Blacks - Poetra Ama Asantewaa

Unwhitening The Blacks

by Poetra Ama Asantewa
 
He sat in his 3-piece suit, cursing the gods because the air-conditioner wouldn’t boot.
She looked across the serving area and the smell of the food was sickening,
She thought momoni was disgusting all she wanted was fries and chicken.
She spanked her son for speaking the local dialect.
She’d told him several times that if he mastered the Queen’s language he would become exempt.
It is only in Africa that a man’s IQ is measured by how americanized he sounds; else he’s a John
It is not only on the stage that puppets are controlled, even behind curtains they are still pawns

They named their daughter Lovelace Clarissa
Of course! They felt it was way nicer than plain old Akua Boahemaa
A man returns from a year stay in the States, and you have to strain your ears before you hear him say “I never really liked korkor and beans, it makes my tummy act kinda funny”
Yet the same man stays in Russia for 3 years and you don’t have to hear him say “I hearrd yourr motherr was siick. I hope now sheez verry good and verry happy”

See,- we wear black skins, but we’ve painted our souls white
We’re good at a lot but we’re best at following trends, and we don’t realize that we’ve become objects of spite
We’ve created worlds which yields us no true self; we’re living a lie
We’re looking at ourselves through another’s eyes
We’re not Lauryn hill educated enough to know that our emancipation doesn’t fit into anybody else’s equation
And we’ve been unique way since creation

It is time we recognize that our being is too original,
Our lands too pure,
Our symphony too Hugh Masekela,
Our spirits too Mandela passionate,
Our traditions too Monalisa significant;
For us to be carbon copies of another’s culture.

We have to take our lives back and tap into the core.
Learn the ways of the old, you know, way before.
Rock our own made handiworks,
Practice over and over till be better what hardly works.
Grasp our culture as intently as an angry man would a flea,
For it is only then, can we be free.

To My Unborn Child; A Dying Expectant Mum's Letter - Albert Kofi Owiredu

To my unborn child; A dying expectant mum's letter

by Albert Kofi Owiredu 

 

Dearest dear in my womb
I curse the day I took that black potion
Thinking it could help in your abortion
But as it were, it would send me rather to my tomb


I'll be gone when you are born, the doc says
And i won't be there to show I care
Guess that's the price I've got to pay
For being so stupid not wanting you here


My love for you was very little
My heart was as black as a kettle
Now i regret with you I can't ever build a family
And love and live so happily

I'll be gone in a time not so long
Pay heed to these I say to you
It's like the few
That's so much on my heart like a song

You sure are out of luck
'cause I made you out of wedlock
Guess the pleasure got me confused
I failed to realize the barrier break lose

Those flagellated things then had a chance
To swim, wriggle and dance
One found that egg in me
And did what was meant to be

Pay no one attention
When you are called a bastard
Life itself is hard
That should be your notion

Shortly after your birth
And my painful expected death
You'll be put in a foster home
But you'll find soon those who will make you their own


Learn to keep your eyes open
When you fall in love with your heart
Otherwise your love will only deepen
And you'll end up bruised and hurt

I leave  with you  my bible
On its words you should daily nibble
I leave you also my love and all
our hearts I pray remain connected like a phone call

I truly and really love you
More than i do everything
Not even the early morning dew!!!


(c) 2010 Owiredu Albert Kofi

IF ONLY... - Magkwadi Lefuma

IF ONLY....

by Makgwadi Lefuma

 

If only I let my thinking drive me,
But then it got no license to pursue the trip,
If only I made my heart take control,
But then it would've lost its job in an early stage,
If only I've changed my soul,
But then I would've lost the true me.

Life is an opportunity to grasp & hold on to.

There are no corrections in its journey,
But there are options to take wisely,
If only there was just one chance to remake mistakes.

Took the way to the world of chocolate & honey,
Made a choice of being rich & being respected,
Lived double lives to myself happy in a wink of an eye for satisfactory,
If only I knew it will get me this far.

Took drugs & alcohol to get rid of my problems fast,
Took a gun to scare the weak & stole their happiness,
Took the pride of a young girl to get rid of my sickness,
If only I knew my hands will go these far & destroy future & joyful lives of others.

IF ONLY I CAN GET ONE MORE CHANCE TO DO IT RIGHT!!!

I'm Going Again, Searching - Reason AbledArtist

i'm going again, searching

Reason AbledArtist

i'm going again,
searching for people,
searching for love
as if
it were a paranormal
phantom hugging
the mountains

like grahamstown mist
of early morning drives
to peddie, emazizini

i remember those rides,
my brothers
emptying their bladders
on the outer side of the road

an excuse
to feel
the warm gravel
and grass wet
with dew

i'm going again
in search of my own
indescribable meanings,
the company of my own
inaudible rumblings,
under nights
characterised
by the reign of chipping insects;
a noise punctuated
by the sound of silence,
artificial stillness

i saw on television
a grieving
elephant mother
keep going back
to the already decaying
and partially eaten carcass
of her dead calf


as if to awaken something
in her own soul,

or kill something off
to enable
movement within

i'm going again,
to listen to silent voices
of my ancestors
speaking
ever so loudly
in my afrikan conscious

i'm going again,
to listen
to laughter and conversation
from people
whose reference
is not googled;
but experienced experience,
nature

i'm going again,
to be acknowledged
and exhumed
from this
'emerging black middle-class'
socially constructed
and construed
bullcrap
weighing a ton
on my shoulders,
like bones dug
from
the catacombs
of
unmarked graves

i'm going again,
because each visit
intoxicates
my heart
with hope
of truth
to be
revealed.
luzuko ka mdodana gongxeka wokuqala

She Godess - Fezekile Futhwa

She Goddess

by Fezekile Futhwa 

 

My eyes are blessed
My soul liberated
My senses are graced
This day
The day of wonders

I have seen her
Laid my naked eyes on her
Like it was some prophecy
Destined to happen
Just when the time is right

I must be special
Anointed with the anciet glory
Marked as a wise one
For today I saw greatness
Dreamed in the reality of the moment

The Goddess of beauty
She who represents serenity
Who defines purity
She from whom all beauty came
I saw an African Goddess
Goddess on earth

She truly rules this land
She sways as she walks
Taking measured steps
Not to defile her beauty
Goddess of my land
In her beauty has meaning

How on earth
Am I supposed to describe Her
Her beauty is beyond words
Words do harm
In trying to explain
I can only live in lust
Lust of memories
For memory is reality hidden
Lingering in the depths of spirituality
Remembered only in tranches
As the spirits wills

I know no other
But beauty I have seen
On this my land
Land of Ancestors
Land of the Gods
Land of the Spirits
Beauty defined in a woman
An African woman
You are God

There Is A Pay Day - Fadillai Dapilaa

You shot him with the gun
Girls around, pocket with pounds, have fun!
That’s your pretty style to survive, under the son
Remember you have a son
You killed him just for the land
   -But remember there is a pay day-

It was an agreement; just a sexual pact
She is down, you are on, you enjoyed the act
You don’t care whether its lust
And is not going to be the last
Tomorrow will open another day for such
   -But remember there is a pay –

Time for church, you are in the church, you ignore the word
Just after the mosque, you forget of the world
And still breathe His air
Give Him praises, No! You think it’s fair?
Remember this is what I said
   -And remember there is a pay day-

You said you believe in democracy
What we can see now is autocracy
What you brought is a bad policy
You seem not to care about our agony
You don’t even have sympathy
   -Remember there is a pay day-

You wanted to be free, so you lied in the court
Now he is going to jail with police escort
Though he is gone, for the truth he fought
Give yourself a special thought
And when you mention the name God,
   -Remember there is a pay day-

My heart is bleeding
Because there is always a persistent feeling
Day and night even when I’m dreaming
Telling me the life I should be leaving
Lecturing me on the life I should be leading
   -Because there is always a pay day-

Mask Me: Obed Sarpong

So I feel like I committed an abomination
I was angry so I didn’t care

I cut all of my hair
Against your wishes and the dictates of some sense
You who know all things
Making the Sahara your dry leisure
And the foot of Afadjato your sleep place

I committed an abomination under your shed
(You did nothing; you wretched soul
You looked on unconcerned; and the wind blows anyway)
I was angry so I didn’t care

23 September, 2010

I Wanna Love Yah by Elorm Beenie

I Wanna Love Yah

I wanna love yah
Like the way
I want my Mum to be loved,

I wanna love yah
And SERVE yah
Like the way
I want my Queen to be served

I wanna love yah
I want to preserve yah
Like the way
I would my daughter to be preserved
By another man,
Your love is like Kelewele,
The taste I can't resist!

ELORM BEENIE
mybeenie@gmail.com

ALL THE MAN THAT I AM by James Robert Myers

ALL THE MAN THAT I AM by James Robert Myers

We court for two weeks and love made his way in us
We confined in ourselves to love without conditions
The vow captured us like glue attached to a paper
My role as a man was to provide her with the comfort zone
Promise her all the man that I am
A day without dreaming of her makes me incomplete
A day without her thought makes me unbalanced
I wanted to be part of her pains, soul, body, mind and history
Since she was crowned the queen in my boneless head

But someone should prevent her from leaving
Because she is not just walking away with her heart
But mine!
I mean I won’t be able to feel the heartbeat anymore
I will die prematurely and instantly
Without a tangible reason in the note I will leave behind
I have worn the deceived face after all that I wished
To be under her affection, shade of mercy
Proved to be a broken tablet in the nest
I am in a need of her company, the sweet melodious voice that sang to my hearing last evening
I have made her gallery my desktop background
As I want her day after day
The drive moves me from that rank to the other
I am no longer on my own since her holy love has departed
The thought of not growing old with her revolt in my mind
But what can I do this valentine?
Let her go since I cannot push her to love me
Someday I will celebrate her on my Calvary fate