I AM GHANA

I read of a GHANA

An ancient kingdom blessed with bold citizens and great rulers

I read of a GHANA

A kingdom of conquerors, scholars and humble dwellers

I read of a powerful GHANA united in development and hardship duelers

Then I read of a GOLD COAST a colonized people traded in slavery

I read of a GOLD COAST a broken people devoid of bravery

I read of a GOLD COAST a rising rebellion of men and women tired of treatment in a manner unsavory

Again I read of a GHANA

An Nkrumah’s GHANA freed from the bonds of servitude

I read of a GHANA determined to shed the stereotype of African ineptitude

I read of a GHANA a shining star of Africa burning bright but leaving an ethnocentric residue

I read of a GHANA disappointing the world with a period of persistent coup d’états

I read of a GHANA plagued with the instability of the frequency of a new leader who departs

I read of a GHANA "blessed" with a revolutionary leader as symbol of growth but with a following whom retard

Then I knew of a GHANA back on the rise with political stability

I knew of a GHANA rejuvenated in the belief in their ability

I know of a GHANA the envy of Africa due to peace and tranquility

I now I dream of a GHANA a GHANA that sheds all traces of ethnocentric affiliation

I dream of a GHANA that faces the world as one nation

I dream of a GHANA that will stay focused

I dream of a GHANA whose citizens have one locus

I read, knew, know and dream of a GHANA

I AM GHANA

BLINDED

My eyes are perfect. State of the art. Iris holds lens in excellent position like a traitor for a firing squad. Lens diverges light onto retina, pristine accuracy, my retina sends information along optical nerves without interruption to my good old brain. This brain set in the mold of Nkrumah, Einstein and Ghandi deciphers this information thoroughly and thus I see.

I see with perfection I see evidence of God's artistry, the stars, the sun, the moon, Nadia Buari. I see Kojo stealing meat from mummy’s pot I see uncle Ebo stealing glances at the househelp and his wife, gently and with a smile, lifting the knife off the dinner table, her hands disappearing from sight and after a few seconds I see the gross expression of pain on uncle Ebo’s face.

I've never worn glasses and never had a problem sitting at the back during classes. I am no soothsayer but I have seen the future. All these things I saw but I couldn't see you. I did not see the radiance of your infectious smile that could tan the devil. You touched me, you laughed, sometimes created a spectacle your way of giving me mental spectacles (glasses) but they seemed to be broken and still I was blind.

l was Onipa Nua the musician but I couldn't befriend your emotions. I was stevie Wonder, I produced the melody but I never set my eyes on the one it touched. A black fly landed on my mind’s eye and thus I was blinded to your river of emotions. Maybe I was numb because I couldn't feel your hands on my shoulder when it seemed on my neck the world had placed a boulder.

I didn't see the blanket of words you covered me with when towards me everyone else was cold. You were a wolf in sheep's clothing but I didn't realize I was your moon and your gestures were your own way of howling every time you saw me, I didn't see.

They say the eyes are the windows to the soul, I barred mine, security against heart robbers thus my being was suffocated with bursting emotion yet still I wouldn't set them free, never!!

It seemed nothing you would do would impress me and I had you feeling like NDC? I was blind. A loss of sight incurable by the most learned of doctors, PhD’s could try and would find a familiarity with failure, u irrigated your love for me with painful tears but how could we grow a plant when you hadn’t sown a seed?

It seemed cupid didn't perforate your delicate heart with his simple arrow. Cupid came wielding an R.P.G missile launcher state of the art; with a bazooka for back up. And whilst you were blindingly in love I was blinded in my path. I see developed nations try to maintain control of my country with neo-colonialist scheming and tactics. I see George W bush mislead the world into war for a dividend of blood and oil but I can't see you stand before me.

A simply beautiful you.

 I have seen religions but I could not see this goddess, likewise royalty but I missed her walk of a queen. I AM BLIND FOR I CHOOSE TO BE! I'm not afraid to fall for your type but your type is what I have already fallen for, for another daughter of eve has her arms of affection wrapped so tightly around me. My soul is wheezing and all I can 'cough' up is loyalty, love and desire. She breeds magnificence like it was a puppy in her backyard may falter in speech, may falter in craft. I may falter in opinion may often seem daft but I'm steadied with the rooting of a tree that has seen a thousand years, so I'm blinded to you even if you shed a thousand tears.

I cannot see you, I see only her… just her.

BAD GYAL

The norm for men in Ghanaian society is marriage to a prim and proper woman. The kind who cooks and says “Grace”. The one who is a lady and argues only in the bedroom to save face. The kind of woman your mother would appreciate and your father would be proud of, but chale some of us are not aligned towards the mechanisms of the system! We no dey like am so! I want that ONE BAD GIRL.

That one bad girl who stares at you on the table and licks her lips with a little wink. That tease that causes an uprising in your loins. The blue balls expert, a constant source of pain to your groin

ONE BAD GIRL! Bad girl who keeps you wondering, keeps you wanting but you’re a bad man too so your mentality keeps you fronting, though inside, your system is like Jerry Rawlings' house in February; ON FIRE!

The one who would just park her car by the road in a spontaneous surge with the words "Go down on me". Yes that's a bad girl!! The one who tickles your ear on her way to the club bathroom with a smile sexier than a Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Shakira threesome! She just sent you a message; Badman is needed right now! Damn she's bad! But I like it, I like it a lot.

Imagine waking up to the feel of a female hand in your Louis Vuitton boxers and a naughty smile to compliment the situation.

That strip tease to Oleku at 2am when the silence is only broken by the coffee junkie owl and invisible crickets! Her twists and turns, all you see is her lips and curves, the lights are off but the moon blesses you with the sight of her silhouette.

Bad GyaL! Bad girl who wants to play a game. Her pipes are broken and I'm the plumber. I fix the pipes and fix her pipes, she's cool I'm an efficient worker. Maybe next time the television will be broken, I did say I was an electrician too.

That girl! That girl who gives u a sneak peek of her la senza underwear in public but you’re the only one who saw the UFO: Unidentified Fornication Object! She's baaad!

She kisses you and runs off like a four year old, f**kin tease! But I no bore, I know she's gonna come bearing Victoria’s secrets and I'm a conspiracy theorist, I need to know!

She's soo bad I feel like an infidel cos her evil is only directed towards me. Yeah, she's a terrorist! F*ck Osama Bin Laden, Osama be hiding. Enogo fit am! ONE Baaaad girl

The kind who whispers sin into your ears, touches your face plays with your beard, she likes you not for your looks, likes you cos you’re weird, Oh chale, I'm weak. She bends over and wipes imaginary dust from her gladiators she just wants to give you a view, damn she's bad! Puts her feet on your lap when you're with friends gives you the "what u go do look" and she's right I can't do nuffin (British accent). YES she knows!

Straight faced discussing the politics of the "yutong bus driver", she's engulfed in the conversation like she's Ursula Owusu on Kwame sefa kai's morning show.  Look beneath the table!! Her feet are placed between the apex of my Salvatore Ferragamo trousers playing a game that Manchester United have never dreamt of..... I'm in the theatre of dreams! I'm in the champions league final and I'm winning, half time, two zero!

Herh she's baaaaad!

She doesn't want to go with me to Holiday Inn and pay extravagant prices for that Star beer. She's with me at the local joint we are drinking beer for two Cedis, it’s like we are the staff here! My Baaaad girl!

Have you ever come back from a drinking spree, WASTED? You open your door and she's covered with whipped cream! TASTE IT!

My bad girl!! Why u dey do me soo!! Fokin "up" ma mind like it was an airborne private part! She ain’t looking at your private cars, she wants private stars!! That's what I am. She lures you to the kitchen with the alluring smell of her akukor nam Jollof, the only one able to make nonsense of my sense of smell when my eyes fall on her perfectly shaped rumpus. Bad girl is cooking in some hot pants! Now you know I can't let her finish! I must have my meal before my meal. My friends complain...they say our food never tastes thoroughly cooked, ha (jamaican accent) dey dun know!

Don't get me twisted, I'm not saying that one bad girl is not a lady, in that respect, she's full of class like a primary school block and only I know of her other side, her Jekyll. I'm clinging to the walls of her body's temple, gecko. Bad bad bad girl Daddy thinks she was with her girlfriends, but I know what she did last night! Naughty naughty

THINGS I DID WITH MAMA : TRUE STORY

Herh! YOM!! What are you doing on top of the garage? She asked with a stern look on her face!! Her panic hidden by her desire not to alarm me. A 7 year old me looked down at her in a manner resemblant of an old man's chastising stare at a child who had asked a dumb question.

I began to speak calmly like a professor to a retarded student, I said, "ah Mama I want to jump from here and break my leg so that me too I can go and sleep at the hospital and father christmas will give me Ninja stars and ninja knives like Apego (my older brother, he had just returned from the hospital after I knocked him out with a see saw and his coffers were abound with a plethora of toys courtesy father Christmas)

Mama stood at the base of the garage staring at me in silence shaking her head in her head! After about a minute of staring she opened her mouth and said to me "Tawiah from now on you're no longer 7 years you're 5 years old" and she turned around with a nonchalant march to the kitchen. The adrenaline that pushed through me can only be matched by a juicy goat during Easter. And with the agility of ten monkeys I descended from the roof faster than asbestos on a windy day, accompanied by a terrified look on my face, thoughts running through my head regarding the manner in which my friends would make fun of me if I appeared in school with two years missing from my age.

Run to her tugging at her tie and dye cloth that I always had to lock between my fingers when I sucked my thumb, she acted oblivious as she continuously stirred a soup that smelt like daddy's socks but I dared not tell her that in these trying times. I made it rain sobs and apologies till she decided to add one year and the other if I put up good behavior, it was a good deal so I took it. Mama used to mess with my dumb head!! There were those times when she would take us to go visit her friends and when all the women were fussing over Apefa and Apego, (the cute twins, roll my eyes) She would always have an eye out for me because if my master, mischief called who was I not to answer? from trying to lure Nana Afriyie to the backyard to feeding the neighbors dogs Pepsodent, I was armed to the teeth with bombs of mischief, but I guess Mama was counter intelligence I was caught in the act most of the time.

The rain bore down on our roof, I was young my asthma was rife and when the weather became cold my relatively brand new chest became old, chest was wheezing no inhaler, daddy had travelled with the car. Biney estates no taxis allowed!! Bernadette! With those condensed drops of water falling to the earth in such great multitude, you picked me up and put me at your back, the safest place in the world, you told Apego and Apefa to lock up the house and let no one in, picked up your umbrella and then you stepped out!! Yes you stepped out into the rain, made sure a single drop of water did not touch me and you walked, you walked and walked and walked and as we went along with the rain in your face, you sang to me. I was too young to remember what you sang but the melody is forever imbedded in me like a birth mark.

You are a mother. You got me to AGC hospital and though it wasn't Christmas I sure was glad to be there.

Nobody tells me anything its either that or I was too dumb to realize u were pregnant with Kojo, for nine months I knew nothing until Monday 29th of October 1993, one of my normally dreadful mornings sister happy yanked me out of bed to prep me up for school between my sobs and mouthfulls of soap in the bath tub, I managed to ask "Where is Mama?" :(. Only until then did she tell me, "You have a new brother, don't tell anyone when you go to school Mama is in the hospital". Goodness I was so excited, I couldn't wait to come back home! When I got to school the secret was too big to keep, it’s as if I had been given the date for judgment day, so I called my best friends Nii Carl and Pooja over and whispered my unbearable knowledge into their ears. Aza was jealous so she ran to Miss Maanu and told her I was gossiping about her so I had to tell the teacher too. Sorry mummy :).

When we got home Apefa and Apego tried to beat me to the door but I was very nimble and I rushed in leaving them in my wake. My Power Rangers school bag crashed to the floor as I made my way through the corridor towards the master bedroom and I opened the door like it was the entrance to heaven(and to some extent it was)

I stood in your room Mama, frozen at the most beautiful sight I had ever seen. Fuck a sunrise in Hawaii, there you sat Maa, with my little brother in your arms over a huge bowl and as you washed him over and over again. Apego and Apefa were also equally in awe it was basically their first experience. (They were 4 when I was born).

And though I have heard great music from unimaginable talents over the years nothing and I mean nothing beats the music of hearing my little brother's cries for the first time as you turned him over and over just to make sure every crevice was clean.

You remember that day the three of us never left your side we would not eat, would not sleep we just sat there and watched you, our mother.

When your father died, your strength was like that of a mountain and you channeled it through your siblings. I saw you scold Ewurama's mother when she burst into uncontrollable tears telling her to be strong. Set an example and she listened. I just sat there looking at you in awe, my strong mother. But I caught you Maa, I caught you maybe a week or two later sitting alone in the living room reading the hymn book from grandpa's funeral as tears rolled down your cheeks. Normally its I cry, you comfort. But this time you cried and maybe I was being "mpeninsem" but I couldn't stand the sight so I sat on the handle of your chair and wrapped my tiny arms around your neck and as I lay my head on your shoulder I said quietly "Mama don't cry".

I know my words touched you to the depth of your soul, you kept singing and I stayed there. I had to protect mother.

From me ignorantly asking for contraceptives as I played an ill gong gong beater in Apefas yearly Christmas play accompanied by the embarrassed look on your face, to teasing daddy as a child along with the uncontrollable fits of laughter I put you in when I did . From causing you severe pain, to showers of my successes that came like rain. You Mama have always been there by my side thick and thin sickness and health. I will love you for four forevers, infinity of eternities, a million lifes of a lifetime.

You are my mother.

It’s not by coincidence that I was born on your birthday!

ME minus YOU

Lately its hard to fall asleep, every time I close my eyes you walk into my dreams, rudely, without knocking, like its home. Actually that's truth, my dreams are your home. You've just become a reluctant property owner, when I finally sleep its hard to wake up, when I finally wake up its hard, cos there's no reflection of you in the dressing mirror frowning at your make up.

No humming that annoying song you know I hate, no eavesdropping on your morning gossip with girlfriends on skype, Nothing....

The cashier at Shoprite said the alarm clock I was buying was the loudest she had ever heard. I could barely raise an eyebrow when it sounded, it is dust before the awakening quality of your slap on my buttocks, God, I miss you.

The butterflies in my stomach died, decayed and spawned worms fighting for food in my belly so all I do is eat, eat to forget, but even when I eat to forget, I remember.

I remember that the fillet Mignon that sits before me has nothing on your Banku and Tilapia, and the water that neutralizes the sweet burning sensation of your wickedly ground pepper tastes better when delivered by your hand.

I would trade this bottle of Jack Daniels any day for a cup of your gari soakings, and even though its always been a cause of loose bowels, I'd rather have a lifetime of running stomachs than thoughts racing.

That reminds me, I left the toilet seat up again, *smiles* I guess that's one advantage of you not being here; I won't get scolded. You know what's funny? Everytime you lashed at me with those angry words I really wanted you to just shut up and kiss me. Now though, I wish you'd come back and never shut up, scream at the top of your voice, scream till you got a record deal singing at the opera, I don't care baby, I'd be cool. Just make sure when you walk out that door you'll be back at 6pm with my chicken flavored Indomie.

You know, I stopped watching who wants to be rich,its no more fun knowing all the answers when you're the only person I wanted to impress. Empress you are the C.E.O of my emotions that's not going to change. My E.G.O told me not to say this but chale what's it worth being a proud lion when I cannot lay by my pride.

Dumb conversations we had, on the same bed, when we were bored I'd call you, you'd foolishly pick up, I'd say How? You'd say Hawa Yakubu. I'd say Bugatti. Tinapa would be your reply. Then the MTN lady would rudely interrupt telling me all I had was one minute, I'd report her to you, "forget her baby" you would whisper, and we would burn that minute talking nonsense to the most minute micro second, we never cared about the content of our conversation all that mattered was that we spoke to each other.

I stopped listening to the radio cos our song is still topping the charts it sounded beautiful when we were deep in love but it sounds so crude and ugly to a broken heart.

I have one question though if you wanted to leave me, why didn't you wait? Why did you do so in the rainy season? Why would you leave someone you say you loved at a time when rain and thunder were like theme music to misery, why? All my pillows are flattened and my dog doesn't want to play affection paramedic. Its just me, my deflated emotions and pillow singing rain rain go away. *sad*.

Today I was listening to Adele's song she seems to have a broken heart too, telling her ex lover "never mind I'll find someone like you". Honestly though, I don't think she was really in love, I mean it is factual to my brain that I'll never find someone like you, EVER!

Maybe I deserve this pain from my dealings in the past, they told me Karma was a bitch, they lied. They didn't know her. Karma is a six headed demon with a spear aimed for the heart.

Whoever you are with right now should know I'd still knock him out even if I met him in heaven.

People tell me to move on, get back in the game. I don't know how they want me to start a new race when I'm already finished, destroyed, decimated...

The old lady came by again today, she thought you had some clothes for her to wash. She ended up washing away my tears.

You were torn between being my queen and another's angel, I've reluctantly come to understand your decision, I mean what's a crown to a Halo?

But I know sometimes you'll miss me, Like times when you are at that dinner with your old school mates fresh from the UK, advertising their instantly acquired "British" accents loudly, soiling your appetite. You'll miss me, cos I won't be there to whisper "arishrishkontomire" in your ear and leave you choking on your food with laughter. You'll miss that... You'll smile for a few seconds lost in thought about me, pinch yourself back to reality and continue with dinner. It will happen.

But I know even that won't change anything.

So, I'm just here wishing God would rewind to the first day I laid eyes on you, to the exact time my friends asked me to give it a shot, having the knowledge I posses now, I'd simply refuse and make them aware, almost every shot taken ends in disaster,

1.Heroin shot

2. Akpeteshie shot

3. Shot in cold blood.....

LIONS IN WAITING VRS GORILLAS IN SUITS

They think they reside in positions of power, they think they decide but that position is ours,

We are the minds, we were raised in the green grass and blossomed into flowers.

We posses the antidote

To evolve into lions, for long our system consisted of antelope

Our thought processes live in the world the white man tried to conceal from us.

We are the open minded

We refuse to be sold the common dream of pensions after a life led mechanically

Free spirits, the Bold, champions of the beautiful.

Prostitutes to diversity in the face of adversity.

Older generations may claim hope is not an emotion they can invest in us

But they forget our unity even if stemmed from Azonto sits us above the short sighted division caused by their shallow minded politics.

So don't fuckin sit there smugly acting like you are a refined product talking about; there's no hope for the youth,

U destroyed our hope with your selfish desires and insurmountable greed you were narrow minded zealots who still!! Even at the prime of your mature years cannot see beyond ewe and Ashanti, Ga and Fanti.

Tribalism should have died when Ghana was born.

Instead you placed all the tribes on a burning coal pot and fanned the flames with your strongest. arm.

So what if I Sag my pants, at least I'm open minded enough to have an "Ashanti" as my best friend.

We think along completely different lines so when you are calling it Ghanaian hospitality I'm calling it ass kissing shamelessness

And when I sit at a table with "white" people, there's no way I'm letting them belittle my country no chance in hell. Even if they're paying for "dinner".

You are cowards!

I do not steal, I do not cheat I do not suppress the growth of my own brother. We do like to have fun.

But that doesn't mean we don't know Britain or America's main interest in Libya was to suppress the establishment of the African monetary fund, or that oil is the main reason behind the united state's middle eastern tirade.

That does not mean we do not know the current GDP is 13.6 or that you have signed a greater chunk of our oil reserves(our suposed savior) over to the western world

We just refuse to talk abut these things because YOU make it look so distasteful so unappealing with your barrages of insults your threats of violence, your psychotic rants that scares most of us in silence.

Some of us will not be quiet anymore.

And let no man raise a tongue of objection towards me demanding respect,take your respect and put it where the sun does not shine.

I will respect you on the basis that you care about me and my generation and from what I can see they don't give a damn!!

Sometimes You watched in silence, other times you took part and helped the western world get rid of all Africa's lions, through coups, uprisings and this fragile concept of democracy.

Scary part is some of you would not mind plunging us into war and chaos just so every public office can hang a picture of yourself on their walls

You are not men!

real men don't buy or sell their Adam's apples.

Real men earn their Adam's apples after serving under the voice of truth and reality and compassion, real men look into the future, real men look beyond their families and beyond the children of their children.

Real men are sources of inspiration!

None of you inspire me.

And the very few who might have, enjoy their success in silence acting oblivious, so yes they too have become sheep in a society governed by wolves, so when they're told to eat grass they ask whether u want them to bleet after that.

Should you really be offended when they call us monkeys?

Because to have his needs satisfied, An alpha male gorilla beats members of his own family(nation) with a stick, you do so with financial and political power, also the gorilla is said to be very protective over his family and beats his chest to ward off enemies. Reminds me off u, only difference is, the noise u make is empty.

Keep making your noises, we are coming, slowly and gradually we will sit in the thrones and hopefully some of you will still be alive to witness the thresholds to which we will take this country.

That is when you will come to the realization that even though u lived in Ghana u were dead to the concept of mother GHANA.

We are in the time of the Gorillas in suits,

but the lions,

O the brave lions will roar again.