Be Inspired

Be inspired to leave footsteps at the door.

The kind that has never been seen before

One that leaves eyes feasting in awe. Be more.

When you sleep, wake up informed, don't fight

to recall what yesterday promised to transform.

Don't wait for crumbs to be scattered at your feet from elites abroad

Packaged and labelled "aid" but spells debt on your receipt but still you eat

Be inspired to fight ignorance that climbs up your decor.

Don't let it leave its permanent stains on your walls. No!

Pay no attention when it calls, let it nudge at their misconceptions

Feed on the prejudice. It ignites ambition, births innovation, demands

recognition. Run the course without their torch, it flickers and is weak.

Run it blind, till sweat beads start to forge, you are stronger than they thought

Break bread but don't desire the dessert of lies. It gnaws at your brain sucking
out your thoughts and replacing it with an empty encore. Lose that appetite.

Be inspired to defy the odds. Let your pride dictate your walk

Do not let them tag you with that "third world" label at all

Remember you do not represent the norm. Be the exception.

Let them wonder and exclaim at the way you carry your name

Don't jump out of your skin when you lay eyes on its opposite

Whether you live on the outskirts of the last century or hold the

status quo for today's society, refuse to bow down to it. To them.

Stamp out inferiority tendencies. Do smile, offer friendship but don't serve

it like an automatic right. What's malaria when you still nurse manipulative bites

Be inspired to grow; out of those torn clothes, adorn yourself with

priceless knowledge, let your children live on it and build on their dreams

Starve out hunger, orchestrate a new order. Your own way of things.

Disengage from symptoms of slavery. Snap off those puppets strings

Preserve your fading identity, Hide it! Don't trade it for their gold.

You'd only be paying for something you already own. Refuse to be sold.

Shift your ideas and products on their gross domestic grid. Don't fall to their

expectations; rise above it. Leave your mark on it. Wipe your feet.

Be inspired to compete, abandon the backseat. Excel. Africa! Be inspired.

My Almost...

We usually sat right there; our laughter imitating Adjowa's snobby chants

"My mummy says...my mummy says..." The girl never gave it a rest

The faces you pulled when she smiled at you, eyes turning mischievously

sketching out yet another of your pranks to be executed on my request

Lets make it a special one; vanilla sundae surprise sprinkled with RED ants.

Saturday morning. The light tapping sound births a frantic race to the door.

Mum always gets there first. “Kwame's here!” she calls out, ushering you in.

Insistent persuasions of 'Eat SOMEthing'. You drown her in  POLITE excuses.

Scrambling under my bed, my desperate search tattooed on my shin

Chalewate. Where did I put it? Normal routine but always a chore.

We break into a run, feet sinking into dewy sand, hands LOCKED in a sweaty grip
Half eaten TOM BROWN long forgotten. My favourite. Women in worn-out kaba
and sleet,swiftly barging through busy streets leaving behind tiny frames struggling under
 heaps of Saturday bargains;  plantain, yam, bundles of kontomire and fresh bacon strips

The stifling traffic bursting at the seams, swallowing up the tranquility of the morning

I never saw any roses. Still, mum insists that wasn’t the reason behind the name

The dorm room could easily be mistaken for a mini airport, bloated with piles of luggage,

carelessly FLUNG across bunk beds and excited girls spewing out high pitch cries of “you got in!”

I stand transfixed at the door feeling out of place and jaded; a whole new world. A different language.

My reality for the next four years swinging loosely off the hinges, hanging without a FRAME.

Lights out spelled trouble. Creaking floorboards betrayed shadows sliding through narrow

spaces. I wonder if you sneak out into the glitz of the night. You're probably there right now.

Jams dance floor; face contoured in mock concentration, creating a STIR with unapologetic cheek

and flare. you ask of me, always. Have you settled in now? or are you still wearing that defiant frown

You probably won't believe it but I have my entertainment CROWN to prove it; this life becomes me now.

Days fold into nights and that how we'd unite. sleep was a luxury only the gamblers could afford.

hunched over stacks of forgotten theories. Welcome to uni. Would Aristotle bat on eyelid  at my losing

battle with Syllogism,or would he endorse my reasoning. In the subconsciousness of my thoughts, 
lies the truth. You are my major premise but my conclusion remains incomplete; boiling over in sweet confusion until simmered into nothingness with a whisper. A minute short of taking flight, that's how high my heart soared

The first finger of the new millennium filters through the cracks.How many years has it been?

a tumbleweed of past rolls into the present leaving a trail of memories and now we're to MEET

As I scan the faces in the room, I can't help but thank mum for vetoing my washed out dungarees

There you are; unusually handsome, glancing at the clock and back at the menu list, I don't think I could eat

Suppressing a skip, I BLUSH at our memories; when you took my hands into yours and called me your queen

 You smile and I fight a spell; dizzy. almond shaped eyes. Not mine. You wrap her silhouette in a hug 
She laughs. My dress feels sticky from the heat of imposing eyes poring into ME. I feel out of place.            An EXpected intruder. I achingly will my legs to move but they stand, stupefied, shocked into dormancy
as you leaned down, parted our worlds and dived into hers.You look up. Disoriented. My face; CAKED 
 in a smile. I'm glad. Tossing back my braids, I walk out, head held high and biting back threatening tears.
with each painful stride, I dust off our memories and breathe in my lost years.You're an error; debugged.