FixAfrica

The news of my father’s death hang heavy on our necks like the chains and shackles of a thousand Salaga  prisoners. The cries of twenty five newly widowed women pierced the thick darkness the moonless night brought, leaving it empty and completely dead. The only light that shone through the night was the happy flickering fire in Pokuya’s eyes. She was Papa’s youngest wife, and still in her prime. Perhaps, the sad news in itself was liberation to her forcefully captured heart, and as much as she wanted to hide how she felt, she couldn’t shed a single tear. She went unnoticed by the other wives who were stuck fast in a herbal bath of nauseating melancholy. Any woman who did not cry when her husband died was branded a witch per the custom of Nsuma.   I am an outcast. I am a griot. I am a loner who often sits under this Iroko tree with a chewing stick in one hand and my chin resting in the other. My bulgy eyes are pregnant with unseen and untold secrets of passers-by. No one...

Blinded... strapped... Fist Clenching... Sweat dripping... Lips quivering... In the gyrations of an Akan fetish. I lay pallid in the deafening silence of the darkness that holds me hostage against my will It is only my eyes that shine light through to my desperate soul, when worry and fear grips my aching heart. And my dreary life becomes as sinking sands.  Our mouths collide In a satisfying kiss... where quivering flesh meets fragile glass... Your toxic sputum courses through my veins... re-awakening the numbness in my soul. My heart pulsates with every drop of burning ecstasy that you bring. My tears drown in your essence  and we become as one. You swirl with beauty, with grace and with the symphony of my throbbing head. Let my life's journey be as smooth as the quick course of your existence mingled with mine Allow me to devour every hope you give oh  sweet sparkling spirit! And hear my thought's mantra. Let me embrace you in my soul's mel...

When you walked into my life, I was black And then you filled it with color and glitter… And everything nice. You span me on your love’s carousel And I reeled with pleasure! I twirled round and round                        UP AND                                 DOWN  till I was hit by a frightful dizziness, I drowned myself in the murky waters of your love. My conscience gasped for air And  I lost my direction... And when you saw that I couldn’t find my feet anymore...  You left me in a convulsive fit of needing you I wanted to be so close to you. You became too used to me And as you left you gave me a cold sneer, and walked away with ten thousand pieces of what was left of me  hanging on your breath... But I knew on the day you walked aw...

You used to say I was beautiful... That I was strong and exuded incontestable grace You used to love all the scars of my heart And all the other things that made me ugly Yet, You whispered incessantly "You're all the woman I'll ever NEED" You filled my days with renewed hope and gave me the strength to pick up my dusty jewels. Your love enveloped my cold and darkened soul Your encouragement was healing to my broken wings. You cheered me on You nursed my wounds... and uplifted my dampened spirit. As time went by, I grew feathers on my wings And with a flicker and a flick, my spirit was re-ignited. And when my wings grew all the feathers it had lost, I began to soar so high up in the sky. Like an eagle I became strong              Tenacious               Fearless             ...

I closely cling to you... Drawing into me all the strength you give. Pushing back tears and saying nothing. Your warmth is sweet perfume, Enveloping my cold heart and reforming it's broken tissues. Like a pure white light. .. Breathtaking to behold. .. your love engulfs me Together is never close enough and being apart breaks my heart Two days of you and I must let go I don't care if our love is impossible I just want to stay close to you. 

At a market square: My sisters! My sisters! Come! Come and look at a thing I dare not call woman. But who chews bones these days? Akosua is a monstrosity! Ke Ke Ke Ke Ke Ke listen to her bones rattle. A woman's body must emanate softness and grace But what do you hear Yaa Yaa? ? This woman has no shame. I wonder how 'Odomankoma blessed her with four strong boys. She must have threatened him with her female manhood. Here she comes. Quiet down my sisters. Also at the market square: Ataa you're an obnoxious woman! The anger that boils within my bile corrupts my lungs and my intestines. It is deep anger that cannot boil new yam but can shatter into sand, Agya Koo Nimo's guord. Yes! My bones rattle but I can never break. I am the precious ivory bead. So who then is an African woman? And who is desired by an African man? Does it lie in voluptuous protruding buttocks and supple breasts? I am sorry Ataa. My hips are not wide but they swing with poise an...