Greedy Crows - Kyilleh Dominic Arituo

- after Darko Antwi's "Scarecrow"

They went to see
For themselves

There was no body
Only dry sticks
Wearing a white jellaba

There was no fear
It is gone
Like a nightmare

There was no farmer
No fear –

Only some gentle breeze
Moving a dress
To and fro
To and fro

Like a boy on a swing

Greedy crows –
They stole much seeds
During the sowing time

They are here again
To harvest the grains

Author Profile - Kyilleh Dominic Arituo

Biography:

Kyilleh Dominic Arituo was born in Fielmua, Sissala West District in the Upper West Region. After his Senior Secondary education at Lawra, he was employed by the Kwahu North District Assembly as the Steward of the Presidential Lodge. By the close of 2008, he began publishing poems in the Writers Page Gh/Daily Graphic, The Mirror and other online magazines. He is currently enrolled in B.A. Studies at Valley View University.

Five Questions with Kyilleh Dominic Arituo:

1. Usually I will ask a poet what inspired their given poem, but here it is clearly Darko Antwi's "Scarecrow", which we published last month on this site. What was it about that poem that triggered you to respond to it in this way?

The title and the simplicity of the poem in style and diction. This is the type of poem I want to write, simple and attractive. We live in a text message era where the majority of people spend their leisure time "Facebooking" or blogging rather than reading novels or poems like "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" for pleasure. The simpler and more concise a writer becomes the more attractive their works to their fans.

The title of Darko's poem, “Scarecrow”, reminded me of my childhood experience with birds and the making of scarecrows during sowing seasons and harvest seasons at the farm in the Upper West region. The birds would eat the greater amount of the seeds despite the scarecrows. Devastating!

I didn’t find my scarecrow in Darko’s poem, I felt left out in his experience. To show my respect and appreciation to him, I stood in his footprint and painted my crow and scarecrow as a way of contextualizing the experience for my people (peasant farmers in Northern Ghana).


2. In my reading, the two poems (yours and Darko's) have quite different tones, chiefly around the idea of fear. Fear's having left is a relief in Darko's poem, and a curse (for the farmer, at least) in yours. Do you read the poems as being opposite, tonally? Do they have places of overlap?

The poems are opposite, tonally. In Darko’s poem, the personas are the ones being scared by an imaginary scarecrow. The personas on discovering that it was an imaginary scarecrow, overcome the fear. In my poem, on the other hand, the farmer intentionally set up a scarecrow to put fear in the birds but unfortunately for him, the birds on closer examination found out that what seemed to be a human being was “Only dry sticks / Wearing a white jellaba.” The birds overcame their fear and went into the farm to eat the seeds. This is a curse to the farmer.


3. The "take away" image I have in your poem is that of the boy on the swing, coming and going, casually and playfully, and yet (as a parallel to the crows' visits) devastatingly for the farmer. It's a nice image that is made menacing by the context. How did you come upon that line? Did it come in your first writing, or in later edits?

As you rightly said, the image is “made menacing by the context”. The persona is angrily mimicking the birds’ mockery of the farmer who sets up the scarecrow to scare them away.

Initially, I wrote the first thirteen lines to comment on Darko’s poem but when my attempt to publish it failed; I added the last seven lines. This was all done at a sitting.


4. Some might say a poem like this copies too heavily from its "source" poem, and therefore verges on plagiarism. What would you say to them?

I don’t think this is the case. Inspiration based on experience has no respect for plagiarism. It is true that I stood in Darko’s footprint and did the painting, but the pictures painted are not the same. Every good artist would testify to this fact as you have already attested that the poems have different tones. There are many examples of poems in this nature, for example “The Tyger” by William Blake and “The Pauper” by Richard Ntiru.


5. If you could have one of your poems "remixed" by another poet, living or dead, who would it be, and why?

If I am to choose from abroad it would be Warsan Shire, a British-Somali poet. Here at home, I would choose Darko Antwi for reasons of simplicity of diction and quality of poetry.

Contact Kyilleh Dominic Arituo:

mypoemmystory(at)gmail(dot)com

In A Strange Land - Kyilleh Dominic Arituo

It all started with a quest for something not found in his land.
He started the journey with excitement.
He stepped into the first house, into a room
Where a boy and his girlfriend celebrated naked with Champagne.
He left them their privacy and went out admiring the environment.
He walked on and passed children playing at a borehole.
He passed women weaving kente at the market square
And a man selling smocks designed with adinkra symbols.
He passed a boy selling brown bread.
He passed weed smokers and realized how far he had gone.
He turned around to trace his path back to the house he had first welcomed
But new scenes sprang up before him.
There was nothing familiar and certainly no turning back.
When he first stared, it was a hamlet with hills and valleys
But as he strolled around, it was a vast impressive cosmopolitan town.
He was lost in a strange land and had become one of its dwellers
Who live desiring to someday find their way back home.

Author Profile - Kyilleh Dominic Arituo

Biography:

Kyilleh Dominic Arituo was born in Fielmua, Sissala West District in the Upper West Region. After his Senior Secondary education at Lawra, he went to live with his uncle in Buoho, Kumasi. During his stay in Kumasi, he became a Seventh-Day Adventist which his uncle did not approve.

He left Kumasi to Kwahu North in the Eastern Region. In July 2006, he was employed by the Kwahu North District Assembly as the Steward of the Presidential Lodge. Nearly two years without friends and relatives, he became very lonely and at that time he turned to poetry reading for words and comfort. By the close of 2008, he made his first appearance in the Writers Page Gh/Daily Graphic and continued till 2010. Also, he has had many of his poems published in The Mirror and online.

He is currently enrolled in B.A. Studies at Valley View University.

Five Questions with Kyilleh Dominic Arituo:

1. How long have you been writing poetry?

I started writing poetry in late 2008. Before this time, I used not to like poetry due to its subtlety. However, depressed in early 2008 I wanted to see which group of people shares my experience, and the answer was the poets. I tend to read the poetry of poets whose poetry came as a result of loneliness and struggle. My debut poems were published in December 2008. Because I am not a trained poet, to see how qualified my poems were to be called "poems" I submitted them to the Writers Page/Daily Graphic for publication. Whatever wasn’t published, I considered not poetry.


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

I was first attracted to the Negritude and Harlem poets, but I realized I started hating everything Western until I was delivered by a book I discovered in the library entitled African Writers Talking edited by Dennis Duerden and Cosmo Pieterse. It pointed out the new phase of African literature and what the African writer should write about. Another book I discovered in the library that deepened my poetry was “Sound & Sense” edited by Lawrence Perrine. The following are a few of my favorite poets, Dennis Brutus, Kofi Awoonor, Gabriel Okara, Kwasi Brew, John Milton, A. E. Housman, William Shakespeare, William Butler Yeats, Wilfred Owen, Emily Dickinson, Andrews Marvell, Algernon Charles Swinburne, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Alexander Pope, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Robert Frost, T.S. Eliot, Thomas Hardy, John Keats, etc.

I am a self-taught poet and I draw my inspiration from my experience, the biographies of poets, commentaries on poems, the Bible, mythology, dreams, etc.


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

I write poetry to calm down my mood or to comfort myself on issues that concern me and my continent that I have no control over. I am like that servant barber who saw his master’s ass’s ears and could not keep it to himself but to whisper into the hole he dug in the ground that Midas has ass’s ears, and nature broadcasted the king’s secret. I am a citizen of a developing country, and it is my dream to see Ghana become developed. My poems are my dreams, if heeded, become my contribution to the nation’s development.


4. You've lived in both Kumasi and Accra, and so have experienced the places where Ghana is urbanizing most rapidly. How have you felt about living in these cities? How has it compared to your upbringing in the Upper West Region?

I love Kumasi and Accra. It is an exciting journey visiting either of these cities for the first time. Because of the daily economic activities and the availability of social amenities, it is satisfying to live there. However, these thrills didn’t last forever. They faded away when I began facing the reality of life that is not peculiar with living in the rural Upper West Region e.g. unemployment, housing problems and the slums that mar the beauty of these cities. I happened to grow up in Wa, the capital of the region, and I used to think I grew up in a city but now I know how rural Wa is, because there are a lot of things you have to go to either Kumasi or Accra to access. That is why many from the region, who have been urbanized prefer to settle in one of these cities or in their vicinities.


5. If all of Ghana becomes urbanized and modernized (as is the growing trend) what do you think will be gained? What will be lost?

If all of Ghana becomes urbanized and modernized there will be growth in industry, trade and commerce, and the availability of social facilities, and the pressure on Kumasi and Accra will decrease. People will stop moving from one part of the country to these two cities in search of greener pastures. There will be high literacy rate and superstition and gullibility often fond of rural dwellers will be lost to rationality, which will contribute positively toward national
well-being. There will be development in science and culture which will attract both Ghanaians and foreigners.

On the other hand, there will be pressure on the land and the available social amenities. The nation will lose its forest reserves and farmlands due to the increase in construction activities. Some aspect of our culture will be lost
when modernized. The simplicity of life found in rural dwelling will be lost to a complex one with increase in criminal activities, unemployment, and corruption, population, and pollution and health hazards.

Contact Kyilleh Dominic Arituo:

mypoemmystory(at)gmail(dot)com

President J.E.A. Mills (1944 – 2012) - Kyilleh Dominic Arituo

He rests here in a dreamless sleep,
And his lovers shudder and weep.
Today, we call him late
And dread about our fate –
Your tears, if you wouldn’t share keep.

Kyilleh Dominic Arituo was born in Fielmua, Sissala West District. He is currently enrolled in B.A. studies at Valley View University.

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

The Journey of Fame and Hope - Kyilleh Dominic Arituo

My son, I am sending you,
I am sending you on a journey of fame –
You will meet roaring lions
And Grecian cheetahs.
But I am sending you like a creeping snake,
Walk straight.
Your heart is well protected in a cage,
Neither fear the untamed or the swiftest,
Be a king and never look back.

My son, I am sending you,
I am sending you on a journey of hope –
You will meet screaming eagles
And Russian falcons.
But I am sending you like a harmless dove,
Fly gently into space.
Your heart is well protected in a cage,
Neither fear the untamed or the swiftest,
Go where the stars recline
And with your industrious hand
Get a grip on time –
It is swifter than the falcon;
With a leap it will carry you into the void
And with a dive it will bring you back home
Asleep and “Late”.

Kyilleh Dominic Arituo was born in Fielmua, Sissala West District. He is currently enrolled in B.A. studies at Valley View University.

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

The Prophet & I - Kyilleh Dominic Arituo

I scouted for power
And found it in an hour.
In a world without a savour
To rule over those that labour.

I came in for fame
And hither is shame,
But I do not care –
To live I must dare:

He shuts his gate
And thither was hate
With many that cry, "Why?"
And their voices went high:

Peace! O, peace!

There is peace in Eden,
The green serene Garden
With happy singing birds,
And many sleeping bears.

I hankered for peace
And met my soul’s thief
That bids me come,
And I followed him home.

I crawled here to worship –
In the temple is hardship
With clerical oppression,
But to backslide is transgression:

He shuts his gate
And thither was hate
With many that cry, "Why?"
And their voices went high:

Peace! O, peace!

There is peace in Eden,
The green serene Garden
With happy singing birds,
And many sleeping bears.

Kyilleh Dominic Arituo was born in Fielmua, Sissala West District. He is currently enrolled in B.A. studies at Valley View University.

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