Favourite Poems of 2012

Readers' Picks

When the War Came to Ghana by Andy Aryeetey (November 24th, 2012)

Comments on When the War Came to Ghana:

"With comical images of horror, "When the War Came to Ghana” cleverly drills at the agitation and wranglings which lurk behind Ghana’s peaceful facade. The essence of the message is everything except the endorsement of violence." - Darko Antwi

"Aryeetey is a good poet who is unafraid of telling his society what he sees in the mirror. " - Prince Mensah

"Great piece. I laughed and sighed at the realities of Ghanaian politics and life." - Bernadette Poku

The Still Small Voice by Dela Bobobee (January 21st, 2012)

Comments on A Still Small Voice:

"Dela's poem is a somber call for introspection - as individuals and as a society. It was the first poem to be featured in 2012 and made a world of impact for me by its thematic choices. We might seek the high and lofty or knock on the doors of fate and destiny but weaving through our dreams and actions is the still small voice. The voice of our conscience. The sound of our ideals. The noise of our souls. The aural essence of our spirits. 'The Still Small Voice' is a poem to be read over and over again. It is layered with meanings and laden with reminders to listen to the nudging of our higher angels. In 'The Still Small Voice', Dela Bobobee seeks to preempt a repeat of generational mistakes that have been the bane of many countries in the struggle for social progress. The poet becomes prophet, priest and propagandist for 'the still small voice'. To balance idealism with realism, Mr. Bobobee challenges his readers with another weapon: the past-

if we have done it before
then we can still do it again

Such poetry is hard to find and I definitely consider it as one of the best I have ever read on One Ghana, One Voice." - Prince Mensah

"The Still Small Voice comes from God. This is the voice that speaks to every human heart, whether sinful or righteous. "The Still Small Voice" is a prophetic poem." - Dominic Arituo

"Didactic and very African. I really enjoy not only reading [Dela's] poems but also studying them thoroughly..." - Martin Elorm Dogbo

Our President Died: A Poem for Mills by Nana Yaw Sarpong (August 9th, 2012)

Comments on Our President Died: A Poem for Mills:

"Each poem by Nana Yaw Sarpong inspires respect. "Our President Died: A Poem for Mills" is particularly sovereign, per figurative language. It threads on a plot which the average poet would consider as tightrope. When solidarity is expressed unreservedly, as this poem has, then the author’s objectivity should be praised. " - Darko Antwi

"The tributes we received following President Mills' death were overflowing, both in their praise and their quantity. Nana Yaw Sarpong's was one of the best, most challenging, and most interesting." - Rob Taylor

Staff Picks

O! Jebu! Stared At The Beginning As Ananse Tickled Himself In The End by Novisi Dzitrie (January 28th, 2012)

Comments on O! Jebu! Stared At The Beginning As Ananse Tickled Himself In The End:

"This poem employs mythology and legend to explain the mundane. By doing this, Novisi Dzitrie continues the ageless tradition in African cultures that teaches wisdom and knowledge through folklore. Nowadays, African poets try to sound like Western poets in their themes and techniques but a poet like Novisi is to be praised. He takes the old and makes it new. He moves ahead by connecting with the past. "O! Jebu!..." is allegory through poetic devices, a superb example of a distinctive essence in African literature - the commingling of tangibles and intangibles as a device to understand existence. " - Prince Mensah

"Novisi Dzitrie is a writer whose literature has the flair to attract obsessive public admiration. His wits are so sharp, and his imagery so refined." - Darko Antwi

"A wonderful, playful poem. It got my vote based on the title alone!" - Rob Taylor

Memories of the Electricity Company of Ghana by Kofi A. Amoako (February 4th, 2012)

Comments on Memories of the Electricity Company of Ghana:

"Kofi A. Amoako, a Toronto-based Ghanaian poet, was a wonderful new arrival here at OGOV in 2012. We featured four of his poems over the course of the year, and any one of them could have been selected here. "Memories" was his first, most playful, and perhaps most filled with love for his home country." - Rob Taylor

"I love this poem! What an insight into life in Ghana. I will be visiting soon and I hope the power is on and off when needed!" - Moira

Tapestry by Darko Antwi (November 3rd, 2012)

Comments on Tapestry:

"It was a pleasure to watch "Tapestry" develop on our site. Originally written in response to Jabulani Mzinyathi's sharp-edged poem "french conference in the drc" and posted in the comment section, we were able to watch Darko Antwi work through a number of iterations before arriving at the final poem. And what a final poem it is: simple in language and yet weaving a complicated and beautiful tapestry of languages and ideas." - Rob Taylor

""Tapestry" is a trapeze between one's native tongue and another tongue - essential for wordsmiths, important to seekers of wisdom. We really do not know this wide world until we understand it in another person's language." - Prince Mensah

Keeping Your Sight (For Delali) - Nana Yaw Sarpong

Stares

Ridge
Clothes of nakedness
Mystique lurks like a fat rat

Hug

Trip

Kiss
Waiting to soil what new thing you and I have—
Hiding in old shadows that refuse to leave. But

Laugh

Bus stop.
I can see your footprints
All over Amasaman
And you have springs in your step

Hurt

Work
In your time I shall see your skill
Your creative spirit reels
Wearing letters before skirts
Then getting nude when the world’s most alert

Love
Let’s resurrect the buried parts
Pasts filled with joy
Regained at instances where we tear our passions
Passions that can be smelt centuries from today with today
And leave them to be picked up again, and again, and again
And littered.

Author Profile - Nana Yaw Sarpong

Biography:

Nana Yaw Sarpong is the producer of Writers Project on Citi FM, a Sunday weekly literary show on Citi 97.3 FM. He is currently the Blog Team Lead of the social media and elections project, Ghana Decides.

Five Questions with Nana Yaw Sarpong:

1. Is "Keeping Your Sight" the recounting of a single evening that really happened, or is it a composite of real and/or imagined events? Do you find you generally write poems based on the actual activities of your life, or are they more often imagined?

“Keeping Your Sight” started as a poem for someone I knew personally. The scope shifted from the “person” of that individual to a more general scope. The only description taken from real life is where I talk about the spring in her step. Everything else was imaginary. I often write about what I’ve seen, then turn the entire material into a new life of its own. This is probably why the first three lines I wrote now are in the twelfth to the fifteenth line of the poem.


2. What inspired you to construct "Keeping Your Sight" in this way, with single-word lines and so many stanza breaks? Had you seen it in other poems and wanted to give it a try, or did it come to you naturally during composition, or?

I love playing with structure and meaning. I think that there is a way things work at the deeper level. In Linguistics, for example, it is theorised that the words you finally utter are just surface representation of a deeper structure. In this poem, I wrote it as someone formulates the thought. Hence the many breaks. But it all is supposed to work together with the meanings in the poem.


3. I've noticed religion and romance to be two recurring themes in your writing. Would you say this is true? If not, what would you say your dominant themes are, if any?

I pick religion and love (love could even be just emotion) as subjects because people pay attention to those. They are contentious. In between them, I insert the issues I’d like to address: oppression, foreign domination, race, class systems, politics and so on.


4. When we last spoke two years ago, you mentioned that you believe radio is a strong medium for poetry. Have you seen growth in regards to poetry on the radio in Ghana? Do you have any visions of how to grow poetic content on the radio going forward?

Today, individual poets of varying degrees have mobilised and formed groups that meet on specified dates. They now organise poetry events, gatherings and slams without sponsorship. Social events, even business seminars, are becoming incomplete without a poetry recital to kick-start the event or as an interlude. All these have happened so quickly in four years. What radio does is that it serves as the rallying point for poets in Ghana. In Winneba, a show has started. Commercial radio has its challenges like sponsorship and for now poetry on radio is fettered on goodwill. But there is hope for growth. More poets are recording their poems. I see a new dimension to publishing here.


5. More generally,how has your life been going since we last spoke? Your writing? Any new projects?

I have been busy this year. Writers Project as an organisation is enough to choke anyone. But I am currently working with Ghana Decides on a project that seeks to bring a social media dimension to elections in Ghana. It is the first time any such thing is happening and we are working to get the voice of Ghanaians with no internet access online. The youth engagements and working groups we organise across the country are changing the discourse. With barely three months to the elections, on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, everyone is talking Ghana Decides. I am glad to be part of this project.

Contact Nana:

osarpong(at)gmail.com

Our President Died: A Poem for Mills - Nana Yaw Sarpong

When the cock crowed
And the hen went picking
The rocks amidst the seeds choked her
The chickens that hated her stood transfixed
Gazing at their magic wands
Did they cut her up to smithereens?

Rumours of wishes of her death
Spread viciously by wickedly jealous ants

Her lovers were many, and – but
Their chicken hearts spoke silently

Nana Yaw Sarpong is a past 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.

When We Lose Reason - Nana Yaw Sarpong

God does everything, everywhere.
She is at that palm-wine joint
Ensuring the victory of the Stars;
Killing cockroaches at the Pentagon;

Slashing off the legs of a child in Afghanistan;
Receiving praises from a politician
Who only eats beef imported

From Argentina, while the people
Queue for water.

God does everything, everywhere.
Floods stream when her bladder
Can no longer contain the screams from the earth;
Blessing the hungry with
A cedi at the edge of a gutter

At Nima—
And after gaining no pleasure
From the monotonous lives of humans,

She sets a new comic in motion:
Wives catching cheating husbands,
The blind falling in gutters,
Fools winning lotteries.

At the peak of her pleasure's end,

God laughs thunders, hurricanes, earthquakes;
And shifts the tectonic plates
While quoting Laing:
'And what was joy anyway,
But a movement of brain energy.'

Author Profile - Nana Yaw Sarpong

Biography:

Nana Yaw Sarpong was born on November 12th, 1987 at Osu, Accra. He has a degree in English and Linguistics (combined) from the University of Ghana, and trained as a broadcast journalist with Radio Univers. While at Radio Univers, he was an anchor of Open Air Theatre, a literary programme. He is currently a Teaching Assistant at the Department of Linguistics of the University of Ghana.

He has been writing poetry since childhood, and more recently, has begun writing a novel. He hopes to become a linguist and/or a lecturer of literature in the near future.

Five Questions with Nana Yaw Sarpong:

1. How long have you been writing poetry?

I have been writing seriously for six years. I started writing poetry from Senior High School, and that had more to do with my Literature-in-English class than anything else. Of course that changed soon enough.


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

Mostly Ghanaian and African writers; but Kofi Anyidoho, John Dryden, Kwesi Brew and Amu Djoleto stand out. I would say a lot of inspiration has come from Anyidoho and Ayi Kwei Armah. Largely, Armah has provided a quasi-framework for most of my work. It still is astonishing to me why I haven’t looked to many major poets from Ghana or elsewhere for inspiration.


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

I hope there comes a time when we Africans, as a people, will be ready to confront the Christian and Islamic religions in a better way than how we have done so far. We must see that it has been a drawback for our society because of how we've related to it.

If at a certain point we are able to allow students to read poems which deal with our recent perception of God – like my poem - that would be a huge accomplishment for my poetry and the poetry of others who write similar things.


4. Tell us a bit about your experience with Open Air Theatre on Radio Univers. Do you see radio as a strong venue for poetry?

I have been with Open Air Theatre since 2007 and throughout that period, I have seen young Ghanaian writers come onto the programme and improve over a short period of time. I had a similar experience with my poetry at my initial stages with Open Air Theatre. I’m glad to say that the programme still offers young writers the avenue to meet other writers, and improve in the process.

Radio is a strong platform. Many people would still love to have anthologies on their shelves, but everything is electronic nowadays. What poetry on radio brings to the board is a kind of freshness; the chance to hear the author present his or her own poetry and give insight on what influenced the poetry. Radio has a wider reach and people are more likely to tune in than walk into a bookshop.


5. How do you juggle writing both poetry and fiction? Can you go back and forth easily, or do you need to be in a different state of mind to write each of them?

I only started writing fiction lately. With poetry, there is a discipline and pressure to finish, while with fiction I could leave a story I’m working on and return to it days later. I don’t do that with poetry. The transition between the genres isn’t too difficult. I find that I employ as much metaphor and imagery in fiction as I do with poetry.

Contact Nana:

osarpong(at)gmail.com