Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Albert Luthuli Road, Accra

It is a little, arboreal street turning off the Gamal Abdel Naser Avenue at Ridge, in the city of Accra. Luthuli hosts the Ghana Maritime Authority, and a part of the Passport Office, where Accraians, other Ghanaians (and people who sound Nigerian) queue from 5 a.m. for Ghana passports. It also hugs a long wall around a decrepit colonial bungalow. In seven places on the wall, somebody has charcoaled “Don’t urinate here”. It must be that passersby do not know the great South African Chief, so they pee on his 'Nobel' renown. Would they stop if they found out who he was?

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Ghana’s Lifeless Premier League

... but they have Chelsea and Arsenal!

It is sooo tiring and tired; dull, drab! Artless players, soulless tv coverage, cheating, beating, whatever. And why are there sixteen, sickly, struggling, saturnine clubs? There should be only eight at that level, for starters.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Girl with a Broom in Accra

When the round, clean-edged, yellow sun was just sprouting up with no blinding rays, I drove by a 4-or-5 year old sweeping the ground in front of a shanty shack. It looked like her home; she, like she was sleepwalking. It is not true to say she was sweeping – from the way the broom dominated her in height and size. It was barely 6 a.m. She should have been asleep or rousing for school.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Sunday School

Are parents twice loving God if they dole to their kids to display, first, and then dunk in the Sunday-School blue bowl?

Friday, April 16, 2010

The Chemistry

I drip with It
In mushy molecules.
Like a faulty tap,
It trickles
When It comes.
If You wait a while,
It collects in a pool.
It ripples deep for You.
It’s better than a gush -
It lasts longer-longer.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

The Grey in the Groin

He spends three stiff-neck hours bent over every Saturday, looking for the solitary grey in his pubic hair. He's disappointed to find that he's all black down there, while his beard shows thirty strands. His head - he's been compelled to shave it all!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

The Final Piece

we have spent time,
enjoyed each other
and not died from idle boredom.

we had a false start,
raised it new from the ground,
and found mutual addiction.

we’ve even come to trust
that, in any trying moment,
we'll have each other's back.

now we feel each absence;
we scheme and devise ways
to touch and care all day.

the mind is never bare,
the dream, always sweet,
the smile, as ever, warm.

i’ve found the fulfilling piece,
you hold it all together,
with you, life's now complete.