BEASTS. By: Hannah Amma Konadu Anarfi

Once upon a time,

The rhythm of our delicately merged hearts

Beating… skipping… racing…

When for the first time our eyes met

Was the music we knew

The only tune we could dance to.

Once upon a time,

We were both human.

But now these hands of mine,

Once innocent and fragile,

Are trembling.

This tired head now holds too much evil

Too heavy for my heart to bear

So it fell out as I journeyed here, heartless!

My tears have frozen midway down my cheeks.

For the melody in your heart has turned discordant

To you, I’ve become a lowly servant

And my mind with deep loathing, leaks.

You have made pain a constant companion

In this damned body of mine

The desire to spill blood

Your blood

Is like large flesh-eating termites

Crawling up my every opening

Feasting greedily on my insides

Dear Lord!

What is happenning?

Must I stay like this forever

Dining with the very image of my fears?

Must I, remain flat-faced on the floor

Prostrate before the beast you have now become?

No!

A year of hapiness with you

Was all I had.

Then you took as a mistress

That tall, elegantly shaped

Intoxicating green bottle!

Then you made me

Your whore

Your laundry basket

Your refuse bin.

You practiced your amateur boxing

On my belly;

Swollen with a son-

Our son.

Three in a row

You boxed out prematurely.

The last cost me my womb.

You sucked the human out of me!

And now…

Now

We are both beasts.

So let us waltz towards your grave, my beast.

All through our steps recalling

Those early nights you spent with me.

You once laughed with me

But now we have taken poison together

Bitter-sweet poison, together.

So let us go

Let’s go dance on your shiny marble grave.

Ask Not; by FiendeBawa

When hearts flow to meet you,

When emotions flare to illume you;

When the chambers pound and spew

Life into the carriers because they see you-

Whilst the fire burns in your direction,

When true desires for you are known;

Whilst you must have never thought of it

And you sense the the yearnings nigh-

My friend, do not ask, do not search

Do not yearn to know the fire's fuel.

Let those pass: for arguments scarcely start

If we demand credentials and let none by.

Do not love with reason-they might fail with time:

Beauty fades, money dwindles, fame sucks- what the loss will bring.

So do not search

and please, man, woman do not ask!

BEWARE OF THE TROJAN BY: FIIFI DE WORDSMITH

I saw a neptunian land on earth

Angels of doom welcomed his birth;

While gods up neptune mourn his death

He galloped across the length and breadth of the third ‘universe’

I saw in my vision

How the Trojan holds man captive in his own jurisdiction

And the thousands of men that have excused their minds

Oh poor mankind!

Beware of him that promises gold,

Of him that smiles outside but frowns inside;

He is the Trojan!

He made my night on ‘dreamland’ cold

And outstrip me of hopes of brighter tomorrow

With such heavy tide

This is what we need;

Rebirth!

Yes, in the land of our thoughts

Whatever it takes and costs

For we are products of our thoughts

Now,

his identity lay naked before me

I have been liberated and so must my friends

My advice?

Think positive…..

And be careful who you tell your dreams!

 ◕Fiifi de wordsmith™

Samuel Abaidoo © 2012

BEHIND THE SMILE BY; DORCAS TIWAA ADDAI

Like the giddy sensation a sunny day blossom on our souls,

Lightening across the face

Form an eternal footprint in our memory,

Even a stranger's own creates a welcoming scenery

As mortals we be, nature never granted us the wish to foretell,

To foretell what actually lies behind the glistering teeth

The bowels of the earth mothers mysterious offspring

Oh yes, the showcase of our bony structure is no different

Watch brethren! Least you fall

As cunningly as a serpent may wriggle

A smile may be a facade that shadows the real being!

HALF TRUTHS By: King Bright

                                        

           The baker's bread reveal buried light,

              Whose rays reflect in the hearts of the blind.

          With their hearts they see clearly at night:

              These half-baked truths enshrined in your own mind.

            In haste, guardians dropout their promise

                To shower gifts on the innocent child,

            Yet on their return, shut off the bliss

                And implant lies in the womb of the child.

             Then the Minister woos us to Christ,

                With playbacks of quotes of endless Freedom:

             And into the bountiful arms of Christ,

                We come to hear of joy in different form.

 

             The seeds of half truths indeed germinate,

                 But verbal dysentery, its precious fruit,

             Shall ruin my begotten restless State.

                And like half baked bread, shall our stomach loot!

Writing Frenzy (group project)

How possibly

Can the Prince of Peace

Calm all the storms and tempests

In this dispensation down?

 

How,

We ask,

Can this bitter root

Of eternal lies

Be uprooted from our backyards?

 

How long

Must we drink

From the pot of ignorance

While dark clouds form

Above our humble abode?

 

How long

Shall the thirsty palm wine tapper

Be denied a drink

From his own calabash?

The coal pot

Now fears its own ash

At night,

I feel the might of a clear mood

Coming from a shattered sight

 

The promise

Of storm-less skies

Calls me ever on

Toward the horizon

Where my hopes are shattered,

The future made bleak

And my bio-root threatened

 

My search is nearing a sad end

My dreams spiral down into a dark ravine

These dreams

Leave me eating my fufu with fire

 

The far-off sight

Of the stilled adukuro mu nsuo

Leaves my throat calling for help

A call to the ancestors

Who masticate serenity

In their shrine

We Call

We Cry

We Plead

 

Give us reason

 

Give us...

 

Peace

MY LIFE (2011) ADU .E. K. POKU



How I long to see your face today

But all I see

Are your feet 

Lingering

In my weak memory

I mourn you today,

My life

Here I lie in dismay

Because thy wise mistress says

Gold and silver I cherish

Not the ink of a fool on paper

How sweet it looked

Seeing my first fruit

My companionship

With your mistress produced,

 

All I have today

Is a seed of this fruit

Forgive me

My life,

For your name

I remember not,

Forgive me

For I call you my life,

For my work’s sake

Oh how gay I am

At the sight of your feet

My life

For thy body’s photo

Is nowhere to be found

 

The photographer remembers not

 

I mourn you

My life

But I mourn your mistress not.

THE THOUGHTS IN MY HEART by; DOUGLAS BOATENG

                                    



I fought my thoughts out

The scenes I perceive

Thrashes out my zone of comfort

I lay out my thought to my captor

My captor is my defensive weapon

She unravels my true inner being

Each night and day, I sought out

My sentiments to outdoor what

My heart has caught

But to all my hopes I lost

My heart has bought a stricken old coat

And each time i wear it, the looks and sighs

Of the lost generation I feel

I am one wild walrus in the sea

Searching for survival

But

I have been kept in shackles

Shackles that wear off my skin

When I struggle

I am one fearless, candid eagle in the air

How difficult is it to question my veracity

For the gospel is my priority

But

these shackles shuts my thoughts to a naught

My fate is at stake

On a highway

But the way to exit tells me

One day,

I will say out my thoughts

In my heart

To my appraisal

Bosom of affection

This is my time of perfection 

SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER by; Fiende Bawa

 

 

Kate a barmaid turned to conquer

And Marlow was by accident wooed.

In this instance I see that her stoop lays bare

What he would not search.

And now, he was as new as grass in rain days;

Never being mauled or blemished,

And there she stood with an appealing look;

Awakening his emotions, overthrowing his reasoning.

He never could resist the urge to enter,

And she took the rope, untied,

She stooped exposing the iron gate

..........and he once entered was forever vanquished!

LETTERS IN JULY by; Awurama Adu-Gyamfi Betty

summer 2012,

from a lonely journey to a lonely soul across the world,
These days between spring and autumn are not yet numbered,
The days are yet to come and every passing moment feels like eternity.
Heaven has provided warmth
And loneliness, chilly nights
The mirage of you keeps running and breathless
On those memorable days I laid my pillow
Touching you now in my mind;
You are looking and smiling,
We are giggling and teasing,
You are saying the words in the song,
I am saying the words in the poem.
But these are just phantoms and shadows,
And more like mannequins which look like me and you.
These days have more stringent rules
and so the distance will be kept for now
and the letters will be read later
The beaches are wonderful,
The sun is beautiful,
The people are in love
the only thing out of sight is you,
But after summer we will be together.
for all the days.

DONT WORRY. by; Kofi Amankwah Asihene

 

 

You hear the clings and clangs
Of the shackles

Of the brave African warriors,

As they are being led

Into European dungeons.

You see the whips

Of the slave master,

Tearing off the black flesh

Of your black brother.
And you hear him screaming

And cursing

In his native tongue.


But don’t worry,

Be happy.
Because you are not the one in shackles;

And your flesh is not the one interacting with the whips


You hear the crazy chants

Of the Ku Klux Klan

As they hunt down

The men and women

Who have the devil’s complexion.

And you hear the screams

And shrieks

And shrills

Of the black woman

As she is being raped;

Not raped to be set free,

But raped to be murdered afterwards.

You hear the silent sobs

Of the little black boy

As he watches his sister,

His mother,

His grandmother

Being RAPED by men

Who have the angel’s complexion.

You hear Martin Luther King

Shouting at the top of his voice,

“I have a dream!”
And that phrase

Echoes

And echoes

And echoes

And echoes in your head

Till you can bare it no more.

But don’t worry,

Be happy.
Because you are not the one being raped;

And you are not the witness of any racial rape.

You hear the rattling

Of the machine guns

In the Hutu-Tutsi land
And you hear the swish swash

Of the Hutu machete

As it slashes and chops off

The heads of the Tutsi family.

You see their heads rolling

In the bright blue sky;

Acrobatics.
You see their heads spitting out blood and brains.
And you smell the stinky

Rotting

Bodies,

Piled up

As high

As Kilimanjaro;

Black dead bodies

Dead black bodies,

Left to rot.

You hear the cracks

Of the bones

Of the black man

As the apartheid dog

Sinks its white teeth

Into the black bones

Of the black barbarian.

You hear him scream

In pain

As he is being masticated alive.

But don’t worry,

Be happy.
Because you are not the one being beheaded;

You are not the one being chewed alive.

You hear the rattling

Of the machine guns

In the northern deserts.

And you hear the shouts

Of the rebel leader,

“Allahu Akbar!”

As he pushes the final bullet

Into the body of the great oak tree;

The final bullet

That will silence the great oak

Forever.

You watch

As the stubborn occupant

Of the white throne of tusks

Is elevated;

Not elevated to a higher ground,

But elevated

From his throne

Into the dungeon.

You hear gunshots

Between the Bible

And the Quran.
You see bombs

Being hurled

At the churches

From Bokko Haram.

But don’t worry,

Be happy.

Because very soon

It will be your turn.

So don’t worry,

Be happy.

IF I EVER LOVED. by; Bright Owusu

If I ever loved,

I would dare pluck heaven's glory for you

I would inflict your being with pains of success

But when night is bereft of the moon's splendor,

And the clergy of their clerical suit,

Realities entangle imaginations in the web of wishes

If I ever loved,

I would dare pluck Cupid's wings for you

I would drain and instil in your veins bouquet of trust

But when oceans are robbed of sand dunes,

And gardens of rosebuds,

Desire locks choices behind the bars of free-will

If I ever loved,

I would dare with Lucifer's voice sing

I would scrub and infuse in your mind thoughts of assurance

But when dawn is axed of tears,

And flowers in June of bloom,

Yearnings sink abilities in the stream of forgetfulness.