Epitaph - Jacob Kobina Ayiah Mensah

On the Death of the President:
John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills (d. 24.07.2012)


Here lies a man who had many foes but honoured all;
Let the traveller passing by see and not fall.




Jacob Kobina Ayiah Mensah is a regular contributor to One Ghana, One Voice.

If you have a poem in memory of President Mills, please send it to us at oneghanaonevoice(at)gmail(dot)com.

His Sunday School Philosophy - Jacob Kobina Ayiah Mensah

Taking inspiration from the contents of dustbins from different editorial offices, he imagines himself standing in front of a trapdoor that opens to a world outside the box. He builds a poetry of mathematics but cannot separate the sunlight from the shadows of the platform he stands on now waiting for the late night trains. On his right someone is walking home with the waters that run and run beyond his distance, the sandcastles are emerging from the crashed memory, the passengers can touch with cold hands without assistance. The sea waves wash the walls momentarily, feathers that have been gathered in the grave for more than five hundred years glisten with water. Perhaps from here he watches the coming morning still in his rainclouds.

Author Profile - Jacob Kobina Ayiah Mensah

Biography:

Jacob Kobina Ayiah Mensah is a vegetarian, poet, artist, translator, journalist and teacher. He edits The Rough Sheet Tanka Journal and manages Kofi Edofo Gallery and Kukubenkuka. He lives in the southern part of Ghana.

Five Questions with Jacob:

1. Your last two poems on our site, this one and your soccer poem "The Goal", have used the space of the page in "non-traditional" ways - this poem is a prose poem and the other spread the words out across the page to form a net, in a style reminiscent of another OGOV poet, Daniela Elza. What drives you to explore these different forms? What do you think they add to the poems?

I see myself as a stylist and unorthodox thinker; I hate doing the same thing again and again. I began my poetry career as a visual poet and now use words. I hope to use something else next time.

In composing every poem I try to illustrate the character of it. That explains why my poems are in varied forms. It seems again that my characters are wild in their attitudes and appearance and this adds to the shape of the poem.

I believe that Thoreau is right in this case. In his Journals, he wrote on November 16th, 1850 that,

"In literature it is only the wild that attracts us. Dullness is only another name for tameness. It is the untamed, uncivilized, free, and wild thinking in Hamlet, in the Iliad, and in all the scriptures and mythologies that delights us, - not learned in the schools, not refined and polished by art. A truly good book is something as wildly natural and primitive, mysterious and marvellous, ambrosial and fertile, as a fungus or a lichen. Suppose the muskrat or beaver were to turn his views [sic] to literature, what fresh views of nature would he present! The fault of our books and other deeds is that they are too humane, I want something speaking in some measure to the condition of muskrats and skunk-cabbage as well as of men, - not merely to a pining and complaining coterie of philanthropists." [source]

So whether the character is a chair, table, egg or what, I allow it to say its voice. Thus, this form and wildness.


2. Continuing on the last question, were you inspired by any poets you'd read to explore these forms, or did it spring up in you naturally?

I have come across a large number of poets exploring these forms, especially the 20th and 21st century poets and fiction writers. Though their approaches are quite different from what I am doing, they encourage me to explore these forms beyond their traditional limits.


3. This poem is filled with surreal images, which is rather unusual for poems submitted to OGOV. Is a surrealist style common in your writing, or is this an exceptional poem?

To a measure I am surrealist artist. My paintings, sculpture, print-making and photographs are scraps of expressionism, cubism, vorticism, futurism, dadaism, surrealism, fantasy, abstraction and magic realism. These may have a profound influence on my poetry, prose and play writings. However, I think the surrealism in my poetry is due to a large number of French poets (Apollinaire) and Spanish writers of Latin America (Pablo Neruda) I have read. Surrealism is one of the roots of my poetry. However, I am not too much into artistic movements or schools. My work, poetry or painting, can take any vision of the destiny and cultural significance of literature and art.

"Imagination is more important than facts," says Albert Einstein. Napoleon Bonaparte adds, "Imagination rules the world." Imagination is seen as hallucinations, nightmares, dreams, shadows, memories, insanity and mental disorders. This calls for surrealism. Nevertheless, I still have some writings which combine a realistic, sometimes grotesquely exact description of details.


4. The last time we interviewed you, you answered our standard question "What do you hope to accomplish with your poetry?" with the intriguing answer that you wish "to perform with Native Americans, Australian Aborigines, and Romas." Could you tell us a bit more about your answer, and the connections you feel between yourself and these historically oppressed groups?

Oh yes. I will perform with these native peoples. I am grouping a band of poets, musicians and dancers of these peoples. The name of the band is "Incredibles". I have more works to do before we come out.

I have composed poetry and essays about these peoples and others from Africa. I share their pains and love. I write for the oppressed; it is the reason I am a journalist. There are three collections of poetry for this project: "Songs of my Love", "Opening the Tribes" and "Hairs of Earth".


5. How is your writing life going these days? Do you have any major projects on the go?

I am now writing more poetry in Ewe, Twi (Akwapim), Fanti, Spanish, Catalan and Basque. Unfortunately, I am back working on a very, very long epic poem I left behind many years ago. I am also looking for time to read Roberto Bolano's 2666, a long fiction.

Contact Jacob:

pveronese60(at)gmail.com

The Goal - Jacob Kobina Ayiah Mensah

even when the field                    is       still                           evergeen
and                           aubergine plants              are       the      edges
the           goal is to                                 put the ball into the       net

even when the field      is                  filled                 with          stars
and                        a pathway         glistens blinding        the     view
the          goal is to put               the ball             into    the          net

you     have        done that                         beyond        glass ceiling
the sun         is not glandular fever         but     another             glitch
we        wait                   for     afterglow and a glass of glucosewater

"The Goal" is the eigth and final poem in our impromptu tribute series to the Black Stars.

To my Zimbabwean friend - Jacob Kobina Ayiah Mensah

Nobody dies at Zimbabwe bay
so if we have come here in Bulawayo
through a travel book
I have nothing to complain
when Marechera's black insider house
is nearer to us than before,
let these children sing baobob books
and no night is sweeter than on harmonica,
your Rhodesia is your end, for another house
of hunger
you laugh.

Too late for the setting of the sun and the rolling
of the world
black daphnes are exhibited in hanging
pictures across many galleries
for low voices bubbling below the back stage
and lengthening the shore of Africa,
your seaward silence becomes my Greek stand
in Mandelbrot's fractal dimension.

"To my Zimbawean friend" is part four of our five-part series of poems by Ghanaians on Zimbabwe. To read all contributions to the series so far, click here.

Author Profile - Jacob Kobina Ayiah Mensah

Biography:

Jacob Kobina Ayiah Mensah has spent most of his adult life at Winneba. He was for a short time an assistant editor of a daily newspaper, and has been a long time mathematics and science teacher. He has practised poetry and art his entire life. His poetry has been accepted and appeared in international literary magazines and journals in Australia, UK, Scotland, Japan, and other countries. He is currently the editor of a weekly newspaper, Focusview, which has a poetry page to promote traditional, modern, and contemporary poetry writing, reading and performing in Ghana.

Five Questions with Jacob:

1. How long have you been writing poetry?

I have been writing poetry for the past 19 years.


2. Who are your favorite poets? Which poets have most informed and inspired your work?

My favorite poets are John Donne, Robert Browning, William Carlos Williams, e.e. cummings, Frank O'Hara, Joseph Brodsky, Dennis Brutus, Taban Lo Liyong, Syl Cheney-Coker... and recently, Issa, and Ban'ya Natsuishi. All of them have informed and inspired my work through their individualism and bringing poetry to the most art form.


3. What do you hope to accomplish with your poetry?

To perform with Native Americans, Australian Aborigines, and Romas.


4. Growing up, what was your vision of Zimbabwe?

Zimbabwe was and is still a beautiful country filled with vibrant writers who hold the tension, hold the energy.


5. What is your vision of Zimbabwe now? Has it changed from your vision growing up? If so, how?

Zimbabwe has a future because Zimbabweans have willpower, the beauty and truth, needed to live full life. The writers, including Charles Mungoshi (I love his short stories collection, The Setting Sun and the Rolling of the World) Solomon Mutswairo, Chirikure Chirikure, and others the forefront who candle the country's aspiration. Even the memories of Dambudzo Marechera live on. My vision for that country is stronger and brighter than before. I have described my vision of Zimbabwe in a short poem inspired by haiku:

The unbroken line
of shadows--
scattered stone plants

Contact Jacob:

pveronese60(at)gmail.com