Nananom: Foremothers

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe Jr.

PRAISE FOR OKOAMPA-AHOOFE'S POETRY:

"Okoampa-Ahoofe has a profound respect for language and the use of words. His works reflect a very patient craftsman choosing words to express his thoughts, chiseling and re-chiseling to get to the right meaning, tone, color, etc "
-Yusef Salaam, The New York Amsterdam News

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Aug 18, 2005
• ISBN: 9780595812301

Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe Jr.

The first recipient of the 1988 John J. Reyne Artistic Achievement Award for English Poetry at New York City College, where he earned his bachelor?s degree (summa cum laude) in English, Communications and African-American Studies, Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., was born and raised in Ghana. He teaches English and Journalism at Nassau Community College of the State University of New York, Garden City. A graduate with Master?s and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Temple University, Philadelphia, Okoampa-Ahoofe regularly writes political and cultural columns for the Accra Daily Mail, Ghanaweb.com, Africa-Forum.Net, AfricaNewsAnalysis.com, as well as occasional book reviews and commentary for the New York Beacon and the Ghanaian Chronicle. He is married and has a daughter.

Book preview

Copyright © 2005 by Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any

means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording,

taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written

permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in

critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN-13: 978-0-595-36816-7 (pbk)

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Foremothers

Serpent

For L.b.——A Neoclassical Asshole

Nativity

Denguefever

Christmas Ties

Delta Blues

Herbalist

Treacherous Thoughts

For Vee-Kaye-Pee

Parakeet In Hamlet’s Ham

Webe

Sherine

Songster

Littleton, Colorado(For Isaiah Shoels, 1981-99)

Toe-Tales

For P. S.

Night-Song

Rose

Gotterdammerung

Symbols

Conjugal Blues

Singing

Meditation

Lisa S.,Md

Auscultation

Simona

Waiting For Ekg(Or Tagalog-Woman)

Baybe

Jfk, Jr.

Jfk, Jr. Ii

Bone-Searching

Skull

Latin Woman

Esther

Consuelo

Stephanie

Symbols And Tales

Sondra

Temptress

Moment Of Truth

About Theauthor

The poems presented herein are dedicated to my mother,

Dorothy Tomina Adwoa Aninwaa Okoampa-Ahoofe (a.k.a.

Auntie Ataa) 1934-1998; and to her mother, Grace Akosua

Ateaa Agyeman Sintim (1903?-1987); and her great lead-

songster-poet princess mother, Nana (Hannah) Adwoa

Owarewaa (circa. 1879-1963); and my paternal

grandmother, Laura Akua Yeboaa (1909-1991); and her

entrepreneurial, princess mother, Nana Adwoa

Apeakoramaa (circa. 1889-1974); and all those who came

long before dawn and left at sunrise to commune with the

gods….

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Image331.PNG I extend my gratitude to all those whohave made my private and public lives a worthwhile existence; to the living spiritsof my parents; to my siblings and our extended families; to all my friends and col-leagues; and to the good peoples of Ghana and the United States of America, mytwo geopolitical selves. And, of course, the rest of the world is heartily invited topartake in this feast of spiritual and moral self-rediscovery.

INTRODUCTION

Image340.PNG From the dawn of time, the poeticmuse has always been known to be a woman—Sappho was one vintage manifes-tation of the muse at her feminine best. And in my own culture of Akan, womenhave always been indiscriminately deemed to be naturally endowed poets, thoughonly a minuscule number of them have made the art of oral performance a publicavocation. In fact, one of my distaff foremothers developed her poetic artistry tosuch uncanny heights as to be appointed lead-female court songster by NanaOsagyefo Sir Ofori-Atta I, Paramount King of the State of Akyem-Abuakwa,Ghana.

And to be certain, I had always suspected that my gift was a natal bequest, butwasn’t quite sure from whom or which line of my family I inherited it until in1998, at