Kojo Baffoe an African literary gem

Born in Munich, Germany to a Ghanaian father and German mother, Kojo spent his formative years on the streets of Maseru, Lesotho; spent some time in Germany to get in touch with his Germanic roots; and ended up receiving his Bachelor of Commerce at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The well-travelled and vastly knowledgeable Kojo has since had varied working experiences in a number of sectors including IT, fashion and cosmetics, and publishing. However, Kojo is more famed for his amazing gift of writing, whether as a poet or a writer of lifestyle issues and popular culture. He currently lives with his lovely wife and son in Johannesburg, where he is often referred to as 'the love poet'. Jamati.com spoke to the ever-growing and ever-innovative writer/poet and media consulting extraordinaire about his life, poetry and gift as a writer.

Kojo was in Ghana for Christmas for the first time since age two. Ameyaw Debrah caught up with him to find out more about his life, poetry, writing and practice in the media.

What is your poetry usually about?
I write just about anything that I engage with, anything that sparks any kind of emotion, thought or process in it. It really is a document of my life because I have been writing since I was a child. If you took my poetry over the years, you can actually see my growth and evolution as a human being. It is a full spectrum of life from love, relationships, politics to, sometimes, being silly, though I don't think I do that enough. We are layered as human beings, so it's being able to explore all aspects of who you are.

Which subjects engage you the most when you write?
I know it may sound vague but, for me, it's the human experience. It is how we try and make sense of life, how we make sense of what we do as individuals as well as a society and humanity overall. I had a patch when I used to write a lot of love poetry as a result, a couple of years back, I had a reputation for being the 'love poet' in South Africa because I also tended to perform a lot of love poetry. That was the time I was leaning into marriage and right after I got married. If there is ever a time to make sense of relationships, love, marriage and how all those things fit together, then that was my time.

What medium do you publish or perform your poetry in?

I have published two books in 2005. 'Voices in My Head' was a collection of my works leading up to that point from university and even some high school stuff. Then I published a second one which was a small 20-page book called, 'And they Say: Black Men don't Write Love Poetry'. I have been working on my new book for the past two years but I haven't been able to complete it because I haven't been able to find the time and focus to do it. I have a lot of poetry on the internet; I have blog where at a point in time I was posting at least one poem a day. Overall, I am trying to explore as many different mediums as possible: video, dance, music. I think you can do poetry with anything; I also recently starting performing with a band.

Do you think poetry is an art form appreciated in Africa?

I don't think it is appreciated enough. Talking about the South African space, at some point it became fashionable; it was the flavour of the month, but that faded. I have been to poetry events that run regularly, and for a month there will be about 60 people in a small club. By end of the month, there will be 5 people because it was just something cool to go to. I don't think literature is supported enough on the continent.

Aside your poems, what other types of writing do you do?

I have written freelance for some years now. My family had a newspaper in Lesotho in the 1990s and I had a column called From the Mind's Eye, which was social commentary on anything. When I moved to South Africa, I started freelancing in various spaces, exploring popular culture and the human experience, just like my poetry. I wrote for a magazine called Y Mag in Johannesburg which was attached to Y FM, a youth radio station. I did CD reviews, interviews with musicians, etc. Later, I moved to a magazine called Blaque, a new men's lifestyle magazine. I was editor but I was also doing a lot of the writing. So my core areas are lifestyle, the human experience and popular culture.

You are also a media consultant, how did that start?

I spent 2 years in television producing, doing content and developing shows. I do a lot of business writing and concept development which I have done for various clients. I have worked in different industries like management consulting, furniture, IT, cosmetics, events, fashion, etc but I realised that the media is the space I'm most comfortable with. I also sincerely believe that the only way we can change the perception of Africa to the outside world is if we start controlling means of communicating who we are, and a key space is the media whether it is advertising, a TV show, newspaper or magazine. At the moment the perceptions of us are controlled by people who have their own illusions of what it means to be African. The media space feeds a certain element of me that is about wanting to make a contribution and build a legacy for when I go, and I enjoy it. In South Africa, I consult with people editorially on websites, magazines; as well as on TV.

You haven't spent much time in Ghana. Do you wish it was different?

The last time I was in Ghana, I was two years old and I don't remember any of that experience. No, I don't wish it was any different because I believe that our lives unfold according to how they should unfold, which gives us the experience and knowledge to become the people we are today. I would give anything to have been raised my mother but I also acknowledge that in dealing with that tragedy, I have become what I am now. I would have loved to come to Ghana more often but that's not how it panned out. It is really about what happens from this point forward? As Nkrumah said, forward ever backwards never!

What do you hope to achieve in the future?
I want to fully explore the media space, print, magazines, television, online. I work with content and understanding how information fits into the society is what I enjoy. I want to continue in that space and see how far it goes. The day I go, I hope that somebody would look back and say here is a bunch of books, CDs, DVDs or what ever it may be and say, this is what this person created.

http://imperfectpoetry.blogspot.com

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