Female Genital Mutilation

POEM: FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION

By Kwesi Atta Sakyi

Excruciating searing excision,

Often done without clinical precision,

Whole or partial removal

Of labia minor or labia major,

A decadent cultural baggage in the 21st century,

Needs to be relegated into limbo

Don’t stand akimbo

In the fight against this horrendous practice

What a trauma the girls are subjected to!

Sometimes bleeding to death,

Why are they treated like branded cattle?

Or like domestic animals which are castrated?

Freudian psychoanalysis laments loss of male penises

In the weaker and fairer sex,

Is that a reason for excision of internal delicate organs?

Blatant blue murder of mothers and daughters

I presume a clever male design

To consign the women behind the scenes

Or an attempt to sober them up

And deny them of any sensual pleasures,

Up in arms, you women

Deal a deadly blow to

This anachronistic cultural edifice

Borrow from female fighters of old,

Likes of Lysistrata, Boadicea, Joan of Arc,

Yaa Asantewaa, Queen Amina and Rosa Parks

You’ve got what it takes to cause the sparks

(Taken from the book Mosi O Tunya Sounds 2009 by the Author)