Mon, 13 Jul 2009 Feature Article

The Obama Serenades X

“[In Africa] the chief doesn't rush….
He meets, consults and then decides”
- Olara A. Otunnu (New York Times 7/12/09)

We ate
the bananas,
waited
for water,
ate the bananas,
waited for water,
ate the bananas,
waited for water,
ate the bananas
and waited
for water
and made
a mad
dash
for
the
waste-
land…

we ate
the bananas
and relished
its honey taste,
and then
we ate as
blindly and
madly as a
warrior amidst
a feast
of blood…

they say
what you
love best,
invariably,
is what will
kill you…

and so
we ate
the rareripe
bananas
and left
the peels
out to dry
in the midday
sun;
soon,
they shall
be made
into soap…

memory
is cud
for both
thinkers
and
villains;
memory
is what keeps
our clan
and
nation
alive;
memory
is also key
to the grove
of those
gone ahead;
memory
is all
that remains
beyond skulls
and bones
uncovered
from the killing
fields –
there were no
killing fields
at all,
save
the killing fields
of the poetic mind;
there were no
killing fields
at all,
just the mass
suicide of a
rudderless
race…

and
in all this,
our chiefs
sat silent
minding
their wretched
lot,
mulling
and
choosing
that sort
of foolery
which breeds
longevity
shorn of
dignity…

“The chief
doesn't rush,”
he has all
at his beck
and call;
“The chief
doesn't rush,”
he owns
his post
by dint of
blood
and
clan;
“The chief
doesn't rush,”
it is only
a neighbor
whose house
was set
alight…

7/12/09

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr.

Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., PhD, taught Print Journalism at Nassau Community College of the State University of New York, Garden City, for more than 20 years. He is also a former Book Review Editor of The New York Amsterdam News.. More He holds Bachelor of Arts (Summa Cum Laude) in English, Communications and Africana Studies from The City College of New York of The City University of New York, where he was named a Ford Foundation Undergraduate Fellow and the first recipient of the John J. Reyne Artistic Achievement Award in English Poetry (Creative Writing) in 1988.

The author was part of the "socially revolutionary" team of undergraduate journalists at City College of New York (CCNY) of the City University of New York (CUNY), who won First-Prize certificates for Best Community Reporting from the Columbia University School of Journalism, for three consecutive years, from 1988 to 1990.

Born April 8, 1963, in Ghana; naturalized U.S. citizen; son of Kwame (an educator) and Dorothy (maiden name, Sintim) Okoampa-Ahoofe; children: Abena Aninwaa, Kwame III. Ethnicity: "African." Education: City College of the City University of New York, B.A. (summa cum laude), 1990; Temple University, M.A., 1993, Ph.D., 1998. Politics: Independent. Religion: "Christian—Ecumenist." Hobbies and other interests: Political philosophy.

CAREER: Ghana National Cultural Center, Kumasi, poet, 1979–84; Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, worked as instructor in English; Technical Career Institutes, New York, NY, instructor in English, 1991–94; Indiana State University, Terre Haute, instructor in history, 1994–95; Nassau Community College, Garden City, NY, member of English faculty. Participant in World Bank African "Brain-Gain" pilot project.

MEMBER: Modern Language Association of America, National Council of Teachers of English, African Studies Association, Community College Humanities Association.

AWARDS, HONORS: Essay award, Nassau Review, 1999.Column: Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., PhD

Disclaimer: "The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect ModernGhana official position. ModernGhana will not be responsible or liable for any inaccurate or incorrect statements in the contributions or columns here." Follow our WhatsApp channel for meaningful stories picked for your day.

Comments

The Obama Serenades X

Author's articles (7405)