Past Poets Of The Week

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My Silence

I didn't tell you before.  

I wanted to.  

There are lapses in this story. 

It is like a silhoutte.  

It is incomplete.  

It doesn't make sense.  

But it has a name.  

Some day when i tell you, 

it will bring us back  

to where the story began  

and you will realise the lapses. 

I give you my word.  

For now,  

I give you my silence.   

- Jo Nketiah

About Jo

Jo Nketiah is Ghana's most prolific social media poet, commenting on our everyday life and asking real questions with unequalled bravery and sincerity in an uninhibited manner.   Her creativity is refreshing and inspiring and very characteristic of a new generation of young African artists who are changing the world with their spoken word and other creative arts.   Jo's poems are featured in Volume One of the Adinkra Series Funtunfunefu 'Synched' published in 2019.

A man died here  

His body is gone  

His soul hovers to and fro  

Trying to make sense of his death  

There is a reminder of him though  

Yellow tape guards the last place he laid  White chalk  draws an outline of his body  Just as he was  

When he took his last breathe 

Pretty soon his face will adorn  

T-shirts, wild stories will be told 

To show who knew him the most  

Prayers will be offered up  

 While liquor is poured out, 

The holy ghost will be invoked  

To guide him home   

A sign of the cross will be made  

When his name is mentioned 

 ................. 

Strange

 ................ 

He wasn't particularly  loved  

He wasn't particularly hated  

He barely existed  

But on a weekend, in a church room  

Picked by a family who was never there  

He will be laid in state  

Friends he didn't know he had  

Will  tell other strangers 

How close they were to him  

How tight their bond was  

They will shed tears  

But not from their heart  

Its just for show,  

Loud music will be played  

For his soul to dance to  

While it seeks a new abode  

On the other side,  

By 12,noon the  funeral  

Will become a party 

............. 

Death is quite fashionable in these parts. Saturdays are the culmination of fashion  Week in these parts  

And Sundays,.... 

Sundays are the climax  

An orgasmic clash of colors  

Head wraps and 3 piece agbada  

We will make it to church  

Where we will check out what  

Each one is wearing,  

We will uuuh and Aaah 

We will give fans and deride  

We will admire and scoff  

At what is worn by each and everyone  

By Sunday evening,  

The dead will be forgoten  

Except  by those who really cared  

..... 

Yes, death is in fashion in these parts  Whenever she shows up, we throw a freaking party for her, we love putting the 

Fun in funeral   

- Kwel

About Kweli

Kweli is a spokenword artist and writer from Ghana, West Africa who just tries to write from the heart. Kweli started writing as a form of therapy to deal with depression and anger and pain and now try to use his writing to inspire others. Kweli has three singles out on SoundCloud. It is his dream to one day perfrom the perfect spokenword piece that will elicite smiles, laughter, tears and hope.  Kweli is also a teacher who teaches at the high school level, he teaches Business Management and Government  Is Kweli crazy? Most definitely,  is Kweli weird?  (wink wink), is Kweli dope? He's high on crack.  Lol.  Kweli is crazy, and sane at the same time, it's up to you to delve into the side you want to vibe with.  Twitter : @Kweliwrites Intsgram : @kweliwrites Facebook : Kweli PenGod.

SOMEDAY, NOT TODAY

Someday, 

You are going to take my hands in yours, Stare into my soul like it holds the answer to all your confusions 

Tell me I am beautiful and intelligent and smart 

You are going to try tell me how much you love me 

But your words will cling to your vocal chords, threaten to strangle it 

You are going to smile and tell me I am a fine girl 

Then you are going to kiss the top of my head But not today, 

Today I will hold you close Inhale your exhale Smile at your smiles 

Tell you I love you, 

I miss you, I want you 

Today I empty my heart in to your laps 

Wrap myself in your skin Some day, 

You are going to hug the breath out of my lungs 

Wear despair on your face like left over regret Tell me it is the hardest thing you ever had to do 

You are going to try to tell me it is the right thing to do 

But your words, they will conspire against you, put a villain costume on your heart 

You are going to tell me I have a basket full of youth, magnetic enough to attract better Then you are going to kiss my forehead 

But not today, 

Today I rub my face against your beard 

Trace my finger tips across your chest 

Imprint my heartbeat on your heartbeat 

Tell you to take root in me, tell you loving you is like Jesus loving humanity, tell you about the future 

Today I immortalise you 

Today I am the space at the empty side of your bed

 Someday, 

You are going to walk in my daddy's footprints 

Shut your heart in my face 

Tell me your heart still beats for me 

You are going to try to tell me nothing has to change 

But my heart, my heart will shatter at your feet 

And you are going to try to remind me that I have the strength to hold the jagged pieces of my heart in palms and breathe wholeness in to it 

And I will crumble into a heap like a pile of undone laundry 

I will beg you to take my life 

Take this enormously large broken heart with you 

I will rue the dawn we first kissed 

I will tell you I have been waiting for this, 

I have waited for this 

Then you are going to kiss me good bye 

But not today, 

Today I let you in  

I come at your will  

Offer my desires as a burnt offering 

Tell you you are beautiful 

Today I love you 

Foolishly, stupidly, recklessly, callously 

Today I love you 

Passionately, fieryly, sweetly, meekly 

Today I love you 

Enough to walk away!  

- Nayram Kakraba

About Nayram

Nayram Afi Kakraba is a young poet, writer, and teacher. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies from the Ghana Institute of Journalism. She Co founded 'Impact'- a drama group that seeks to make social change through theatre arts. She is also a partner in the NyansaPoetry Movement- a movement that seeks to create a global platform for Ghanaian poets to share their works. She loves good books, good music, good food and the beach.

I serenade you 

Alas to dance to the tempo played  

By my heaving breath and the beat of your heart Left - right, right - left 

I wriggle right under your influence 

Left in an airless dark space 

Pressure over pleasure 

Fighting feelings in a tight place 

Left -right, right - left 

I hit my head against walls 

Left my "Noes" in the unknown 

And gave my "Yeses" to you 

Canned by you, I have no brand 

My identity unmentioned 

Tagged by you, I am bagged 

My worth unpriced

To Being influenced by your spell 

I move Left - right, right - left 

Left bereft of any right 

I wear you I walk you I speak you 

I gave me no voice just to fit in your skin 

I succumbed to your image 

Basked in your shadow "Look like this, 

Fix your tresses like this, 

Eat like that, 

Your weight makes you disgusting" 

I battled with my shadow to leave me 

So I could become the shape of you 

The circle you built for a square like me, Chiselled and worn out just to fit in 

Left - right, right - left I am left afloat in a skyless globe 

The sky could never be my limit 

As I fight with confusion in my head 

All the "wows" are not for me 

All the applause - your achievement 

Alas a slave's glory is for the master 

In your sight I was a parasite but 

"No" Like the tick in the fair you make me sick So I will fight back every attack that led me astray 

Here is to a soul vexed after being hexed by your influence 

I will no longer cry in the rain for you

 I will no longer hide my scars with make over I will no longer mute my voice and let you control me 

I will not let you place me on a shelf of no value 

I will not let you surround and ground me I will not let my head sink in the sea of who I am not 

Where once deep inside you, my powers were cowered but now I will wear me 

I will talk  me I will walk me 

Out of your skin To be positive 

Influential, 

Sensational 

Inspirational, 

Generational 

To bloom on concrete floors 

Win in terror stricken sand storms 

To swim in high tides 

To fly with the clouds  

And dance with my shadow 

To standout if standing out of your skin is what it takes to walk my path 

I will refill my wings with new feathers 

And soar where eagles fly in my skin 

And learn to cheer me on  

To Becoming Me.

Joy Siaw-Asamoah

About Joy

Joycelyn Siaw-Asamoah is a Ghanaian who has passion for children and youth development. She has a Master of Science degree in Project Management from the University of Southampton and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration (HRM option) from Central University College and was awarded Best Graduating Student -Human Resources year group with first  Class. She has made significant contributions to the lives of children, youtghs and orphans. She is also a musician and a passionate writer. She was recently awarded The Africa for Her Champion by the Young African and Leadership Initiative and the US Embassy. She is the founder and director of OLAF, One Life Aid Foundation , an NGO that works to execute the Sustainable Development  Goals.

Clues

At birth I refused to cry  

Perhaps, still in shock of my kidNAP From heaven to earth  

At three I was grown.  Grown enough to be Mome's shock absorber, 

Life electrocuted too

At five I learnt to fly 

My heart  had lumps of dreams too thick to dissolve,  

Solid enough for take off 

At ten I had become the sky  

A reflection of boundlessness untapped, 

The dwelling of twinkling stars awake 

At fourteen I found myself trapped in me, Beneath golden diamonds in poetry shapes.

  The stones were rolled away  

At twenty I could tickle the sun 

Making her every move drench souls in sweetness. 

The world was sad enough 

At twenty two I increased my volume, 

Making hearts beat to the melodies of my being Music had become me.   

When twenty five (and beyond) 

I'll  still be me, 

With that face,  the reflection of father's very image I am memory encased in flesh and blood.   

Do not call me human. Memories don't die

About Eden

Eden Benibo is a  Nigerian writer, story  teller and thought leader whose works revolve around positivity, as she believes  the world is sad enough. Therefore, requires a shift.. Her works, which began as an overflow of her childhoods days, have been published on various platforms including, The Evergreen Poetry Journal, New York, USA,The New England Poetry Anthology,The Kalahari Review, Libretto Magazine, Qwenu, amongst others. Eden is a graduate of Mass Communication, University of Benin. She is currently a Content Writer at Etu Odi Communications, an Author at She Leads Africa,  and a Youth/Change Ambassador at Roundtable Global. Aside from writing, reading and exploring her thoughts, she is also great at making people fall in love with poetry, become poets or the poem.

AMAZON BURNS, Losers are Many

Losers are many

              in the play fields of greed and corrupt under deals Winners are few             in the board rooms where loot is shared             among baptized robbers Its a world phenomena reaching its evil tentacles             to the remotest of villages In earnest search

 of minerals,

             logs and virgin farmlands Man has 

gone beyond mad

                                   into a demonic euphoria  caring not at the consequences of his myopic view  

We import corruption,

                we export corruption We buy with corruption,

            we sell with corruption We defend with corruption,

                 we deliberate with corruption  

So we marvel

                at the blaze consuming the earth's lungs 

With natives scampering

                     with tails between their scorched thighs 

We spin tales

              taller than lying tongues to justify the scum 

Who said you get away with a lie to nature? 

Natives may die and your farmland you get How about when rains fail and your crops die? 

How about invasion of earth by excess carbon? 

Will gold and mighty logs give you   

a gallon of oxygen

   for you as you lay suffocating

                             in your ill gotten mansion?  

Amazon burns today  

We, all, without exception  

shall burn tomorrow 

The price of greed is paid by the future  Amazon burns today  

We, all, without exception  shall burn tomorrow 

Unless you stand to say  no to the massacre of  OUR collective heritage.  

Nancy Ndeke. @ August 2019 

About Nancy

NANCY NDEKE is a Poet of international acclaim. A reputable literary arts consultant and a distinguished Literature Scholar. Her writings and poetry are featured in several collections, anthologies and publications around the globe including the American magazine Wild Fire, Save Africa Anthology. World Federation of Poets in Mexico. Ndeke is a Resident Contributor of the Brave Voices Poetry Journal.African Contributor to the DIFFERENT TRUTHS, a publication that sensitizes the world on the plight of Autism edited by Aridham Roy. SAVE AFRCA ANTHOLOGY edited by Prof. Dave Gretch of Canada and reviewed by Joseph Spence Jr has featured her poetry and a paper on issues afflicting Africa and Africans.    Ndeke’s poetry and other literatures in WILD FIRE PUBLICATION in America published by Susan Joyner Stumpf and Susan Brooke Langdon. ARCS MAGAZINE in New York Edited by DR. Anwer Ghani. Her women Arts Presentation was recently published by WOMEN OF ART (WOA) in Cape Coast in Ghana.  Soy Poesia, in Peru, Claudette V pg 11 featured her writings with great reception.AZAHAR from Mexico, with the initiative from Josep Juarez has also featured her poetry. She is also featured  in WORLD FESTIVAL OF POTRY (WFP) from Mexico under the able editorial team comprising Luz Maria Lopez INTERNATIONAL AFRICAN WRITERS from Nigeria, under the able hands of Munyal Markus Manunyi .Patricia Amundsen from Australia featured her poetry on this year’s international women’s day at Messenger of Love, Radio Station. Esteemed poetess Jolly Bhattacharjee featured my works on her greatly acclaimed awareness anthology for 2019, India.  HER BOOKS. 1. LOLA-LOGUE is a tittle published in Amazon in 2017. Its a series of short stories based on a family drama.  2. Words in Motion is a poetry ebook also published on Amazon. 3. SOLIAMA LEGACY is a Novel . Also available on Amazon. 4. Musical Poesy is a children's poetry book, also available on Amazon. 5. May The Force Be With You,  is an anthology of poetry published in Nairobi in 2019, with contributions from around the world. Its a tribute to her late son. Its also available on Amazon. Mazungumzo Ya Shairi 2020, co-authored with Gameli Tordzro published by AdinkraLinks Publications. She has also contributed to AYA 'The Resilient' 2020