Ghanaian poet whose work explores womanhood, silence, and selfhood. Hler poems have appeared in Creative Project Ghana, The Feminist Code, and Global Writers Project. She is an alumna of the Spring Writing Fellowship and the 2023 Nadelí Café Bootcamp.
Kwame… lost but not forgotten – Ancestors Answer Me
I knelt by the old anthill
the one where grandmother poured palm wine
and whispered names into the dust.
I came with kola nuts,
and a question burning my chest.
Ancestor, answer me
What happens to a name
when no one sings it anymore?
“Kwame” was his name
born on a Saturday,
wrapped in Adinkra cloth and grandmother’s dream.
He danced before he walked,
laughed like the moon knew him.
But one day, the wind changed.
The airplane took him
and the silence kept him.
Now, he calls himself Nelly Brown.
He speaks a tongue
that has no word for “Ewurade”
He eats without pouring libation.
He marries without greeting the river.
Ancestor, answer me,
Did we not drum his feet into memory?
Did we not bathe his feet in salted water?
The fire cracked but gave no reply.
The rain came halfway,
then turned.
Even the trees stood still.
So I sang his name myself,
“Kwame, Kwame, Kwame…”
Hoping the smoke would carry it
beyond the sea,
into the dream where he still bows.
Ancestor, answer me,
If he forgets us,
do you forget him too?
Glossary note: Meaning of the Twi word “Ewurade” means God.
