the kakalika[i] eats the calico
of old people with kaka[ii] and kookoo[iii]
and catastrophe catapults its trick
with man-versus-insect catalytic
cockroaches encroach our peace lurking
through abroach beer bottles
lying on bar floors by the drunken
listless to find their way home.
I see slimy grimy baby roaches
approaching dirty dishes with gusto
broaching our disgust when we find
them crouch near our open mouths
we reach for empty RAID cans cursing
ourselves for complacency
and our darkened rooms become the playgrounds
for rodents and Blattaria pests
sleep is shot by insects searching
through cupboards and kettles
no more silence as plastic cups turn
as a thousand critters roam
the room is filled with flying cockroaches
we smash them between recto and verso
but the night has made us all blind
we are victims in her blackouts
we beat ourselves in this confusion
roach-riddance is urgency
triggering mistakes as melee abounds
thanks to these cold-blooded insects
I guess the cockroach will inherit the earth
after the meek get fed up with being nice.
They run through the chamber and hall, coach and berth
indulging us all with creepy surprise
the kakalika eats the calico
of old people with kaka and kookoo
and catastrophe catapults its trick
with man-versus-insect catalytic
[i] The Ga word for ‘cockroach’
[ii] Twi word for toothache
[iii] Twi word for ‘a weak waist’, a sign of age and morbidity
5 comments:
When peace like river flows our way, cockroaches sometimes float along and in separating the two lies the task. Interesting rhyme pattern. I like it!
prince , wonderful cake of art damn vivid imagery and mind hacking personification.a poetic drama
Amazing poetry. I like the story and all.
Weldone Prince
Great piece Prince. Sure, creativity really does thrive in freedom. You did your own thing and it's wonderful. Keep up the spirit! SHALLOM! Brother.
BRAVO!
I say a well-deserved bravo to the writer of this artistic and beautifully written poem. The clever use of poetic technique of Onomatopoeia aptly describes the words that look like the sound they are describing. The mastery of the musical interplay of words in this kakalika poem is as pleasing to the musical ear as well as highly hilarious. In a sense it also vividly depicts the melodramatic ways in which some of we Africans react to the nuisance of cockroaches.
The audio rendition is a very creative dimension that added another aspect to the overall beauty of this poem. One can just imagine an enraged victim of cockroach encroachment seen as harassment angrily swinging a broom in the dark at the slightest annoying sound of a scratching kakalika. One may even be more annoyed to find some kakalikas scrambling up legs in trousers in their frantic bid to escape the anger of their fuming victims. They are indeed pests that must be dealt with accordingly, but please be careful not to tip over by an empty beer bottle in the dark and fall just trying to kill a kakalika.
The words “I guess the cockroach will inherit the earth”, are perhaps a matter of fact, and should not be regarded as just an allusion. Scientists ruminating on the cataclysmic propensity of biological warfare have depicted cockroaches as the possible survivors of World War 3, for they have the capacity of withstanding high radiation. We pray that there should be no such thing in the future. Amen. Well done, Prince Mensah.
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