An ode to the Challenges of Manhood

By Kwesi Atta Sakyi 7th October 2013

(Dedicated to the memory of late Kofi Awoonor)

May you stand tall among all

May you soar high above the dense forests

You are the elect of our forebears and elders

May your manhood stand erect-

An iroko tree in an evil forest

May it subdue, oppress and suppress the undergrowth

May it overcome all snares and tares

Odumgya, Asaase Aban, Otafregya, Okumkom Komfo Adu, Efiewura

( Fire Extinguisher, Government, Fire Eater, Killer of Hunger, Landlord)

May it bulldoze its way through the bramble,

May your dick prickle, and pick its way smoothly through the thistle

May all who taste your prick be tickled from its tingling sensation

All curious onlookers are awed and they whistle

May it never suffer choking nor blocking in the evil forest,

May it never doze or hang its head low when on guard duty

At the grand palace of evil forest estate

May your waist be a reservoir of tadpoles

That hatch into croaking toads in evil forest

Pray, may they be replica of the iroko tree

May your roads be strewn with hard labour

As you slave for your inamorata's favour

May your load ever increase your burden

As you live under a gender curse

May you know no rest

Till with fistfuls of cowries you fill your purse

May your thinking be crowded with cares

As you struggle to please your accursed

May your in-laws triple and quadruple the dowry

May you walk gingerly barefoot on tares

May you sleep in twists and turns

Dreaming and dreaming of populating Ghana,

Or copulating Ghana,

May the akonoba beware

Not to cast furtive glances and stares at the sleeping giant

When the sleeping giant stirs and stands erect

May she go blindfolded to the slaughter

May she sheepishly oblige to the altar

To worship the naked tree whence she was hewn

There, she will be shown and shorn

Of her hairy hubris and nyanga

Or is it the other way around,

May the ganglion spectre stretch in full flight

May the oven be blasted to many degrees kelvin

May her muted sobs subside

And supplanted, her aroused curiosity reign

May her gaping mouth be sewn

As she imbibes holy waters and adukromu nsuo

In cataclysmic ecstasies and explosions they wreathe in twain

A languorous tango at wee hours of a dawn broadcast,

But alas, at last, at explosion of ecstasy, lashes, gashes, ashes

(c) 2013 Kwesi Atta Sakyi

Footnotes

• To do nyanga means to drag your feet or dilly dally or even to brag.

• Adukromu nsuo is the cold, sparkling water found in the buttress of

a forest giant which is highly revered by the Akans of Ghana as fit to

be given to your inamorata or lover.

• Akonoba is the lady of your love or love object.

By Kwesi Atta Sakyi