Poem: Ghana After Obama

When on our horizon
Africa's son rose
For once, all things froze
It's been over a week
But Obama is not gone-
The pictures and sentiments remain.

After the kenkey, shito
And tilapia from the grill
He proceeded
To give our strongmen a drill.

Oh Obama, how can you eat our chow,
And treat us so?
Some might have thought.

Anyway, was he wrong?
Should there be pain b'cos he was plain?
Is it the shito that made his words prickly
Or b'cos the truth by nature is/can be prickly?

Do you really think,
He needs to do some reconsideration?

Do we need some reminding,
That the very letters that make hurt (h.u.r.t)
Can be found in truth (t.r.u.t.h)?

No Hidden Agenda:
He didn't come for oil
But they talked about oil-
Talk about technical assistance and experts.
So, what should we expect?

They talked about oil,
But he didn't come b'cos of oil.
Barack wouldn't soil his image,
When he has a reputation as a sage
Of a different class and breed.

But he also didn't come to butter our bread.
Get your act together,
Let's put our heads together
Let's stand together
Was the message, the mantra and the creed.

It's not just the Obamas
Who stepped into Cape Coast
It was all of Ghana too.
A much needed plunge
Into our past and early beginnings.
A necessary step, as we lunge
For the future.
We need to keep our roots
As we lay routes
To a new era of progress.

As the Obama tide subsides
All that which got submerged
Will by themselves emerge.
-the diapers (maybe), the tractors, the Indian rice
Et al.

Obama's visit -
The “Downsides”:
Did you see all the gimmicks,
State protocol's faulty calls,
The ministers' airport clicks,
And Double Jay and J.A.M's parliamentary jam?

I saw JK and Double Jay,
Together, in several pictures
But let's not be deceived into talking of wholeness
B'cos there are several fractures.

It is an open secret,
He said he'll be discreet.
And he was. Though he “can't tolerate that guy”,
Double Jay forced a smile,
But Nana let her hair down
She was spotted without her crown.
But not without a scorn and a frown.

Obama is gone
But we remain in the spotlight
Into which we've been thrust.
All of Africa is ready to give us their trust.
If an able leader we prove to be.

Prez Mills, the ball lies in your court
It's for you to call the shots.
Hope there will be a censure
Of all unnecessary seizures
Hope there will be no Pontius Pilating
Hope there will be no Golgotha moments,
And no casting of lots
For some seamless cloths.

Credit: Isaac Karikari ([email protected])