Our Dear Driver - Kofi A. Amoako




Today we got the driver with the heavy right foot
That driver with a bad temper and an eye for the tightest space to overtake
Yes, the same one who has mastered these Accra streets
The driver who knows every gospel song on the radio and every insult there is
and holds his tongue neither for saints nor sinners

Of all his qualities, nothing worries us more than his heavy right foot
The foot that harshly steps on the accelerator as if he's killing a serpent
When he drives, our hearts are in our stomachs and our stomachs in our mouths
Despite loud groans and muffled protests, the heavy footed driver proceeds
with little care in the world

We can't change him
But if we could, we'd lighten the weight in his right foot
The foot that steadfastly pins down the accelerator like an unmovable rock
the foot that flies us through this thick Accra traffic


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very interesting starting point to tell the story.
Enjoyed that.

Bernadette said...

very nice piece, funny but serious

Darko Antwi said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Darko Antwi said...

Welldone Kofi!

'Our Dear Driver' is an outstanding work of literature that treads on a loose spot of suburban Accra. It is cleverly written to mock the city's underdeveloped social and commercial conduct that pose mortal danger to its economy: to the disorientation of infrastructure and human resource.

In 'Memories of Electricity Company of Ghana', the poet Kofi Amoako defines how the irresponsible attitude of switches affect socio-economic patterns of life. In his latest poem, (it is neither hand-on-switch nor the scene of darkness) he has used foot-on-pedal to create a scene between survival and tragedy to appropriate the following statement by Prof T.P Manus Ulzen of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology:

'The cost of not enforcing the laws and regulations can be found daily in lost lives, declining educational standards, unplanned development and persistent poverty.'

* Quoted from his February 2012 Daily Graphic article titled: 'The law, the people and the republic'.

Unknown said...

so you also have an unfair share of heavy footed drivers. that is also the situation in my country zimbabwe. looks like there are lots of such drivers and always forcing us to play russian roulette.perhaps we should be protesting against the heavy foot. it might mean boycotts because corruption is rife and unbridled. the police no longer turn a blind eye. they no longer have eyes. these have been gouged by the jingling of coins and rustling of notes

Anonymous said...

Nice poem. What is the fatality rate for Accra? Last month (December) _alone_, more than 1000 people died due to bad driving.