Sun, 29 Jul 2012 Feature Article

To My Uncle Tarkwa Atta – A Tribute (8)

I am trying
extremely hard
to figure out
your unifying legacy,
since the Pope
came out this morning
with a call
for all your
countrymen
and women
to rally around
the grief provoked
by your death…
but we both know
you are not
really dead,
you have just taken
the usual hike
to the other side
of town…
yes,
I have been trying
extremely hard
to find
a piece of
your legacy
from the pronouncements
of the new Shit-Bombers
who have taken over
our block,
the new drug kingpins
your left behind;
other than your
quite admirable decision
not to pursue
the bloody gospel
according to Jato Patapaa,
I don't know
what else
you preached
and/or practiced
that pointed
in the path
of unity –
you see,
you were
so AWOL
for so long
most of our folks
really believed
your fingers
were smack-dab
behind
this rancid culture
of personal abuse
that widely came
to be linked
with your rule;
some of us
even believed
to rise up
the cabinet rungs
of your rule,
one had to shod
one's tongue
with the filthiest barb
of verbal turd,
you know
what I mean,
what Kofi Wayo casts
in plain
ghetto-speak as
SHIT…
maybe
this is the legacy
of your national
unification,
the avid observer
of our leadership
does not have to
look very far,
for ours
is a veritable culture
of SHITOCRATS,
foul-mouthing
is our new
national anthem,
and this is no
grand surprise
at all,
after all,
aren't the Shit-Bombers
back in the saddle
of our
“donkeydom,”
Uncle Atukwei…
Uncle Tee,
your failure and/
or refusal
to fire
cabinet knuckleheads
like Hannah Bissiw
Kobby Acheampong
Tony Aidoo and
namesake
Benyiwa Doe
made it all seem
you relished
such crap,
though your ridding us
of Scarface Edusei
made my day,
made it clear
SHITOCRACY
was the last
ENN-DEE-CEE anthem
on your mind –
then again,
your Wikileaking
ASANTE PROJECT
did not help matters
that much…
7/29/12

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

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To My Uncle Tarkwa Atta – A Tribute (8)

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