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ABOUT
Padmore Agbemabiese
Padmore Agbemabiese is a Ghanaian poet, playwright and scholar. Currently, he is at The Ohio State University as a lecturer. He had his early education in Ghana and later in the US. Padmore Agbemabiese has received numerous awards for his poetry and academic work. He has been published in anthologies, and journals in the US as well as in Europe. His poems have been translated into many languages both in Africa and in Europe. Currently, he is working on an anthology, "The Smell of Exile"
SEE
HIS POEMS BELOW
IF I COULD GIVE SOMETHING
(tribute to Motherhood)
by Padmore Agbemabiese
if I could give diamonds
for each tear you shed when I cried as a babe
toddling, running in the mud,
holding onto your breast crying all day long
if I could give sapphires
for each truth you engraved on my heart
corals for the basketful of patience I received
when I lost hope
in my achievements as well as my plans
if I could give tons and tones of rubies
for the burdens you’ve carried
ever since I entered this world
if I could give nuggets of gold for the pains you endured
when around me were frustrations and disappointments
if I could give you pearls
for the wisdom you taught me
in the face of all aridity and disenchantments
if I could give something for all these
Mother, you’ll have a treasure for all ages
But, I have no pearls nor diamonds,
no silver, no gold, in fact, nothing
all I have is the life you gave me—
pure and untainted by time
and what it can give you
is its devotion, love and care
! ! Happy Mother’s Day ! !
GOD, WE NEED TO TALK
if you go to heaven
and meet my stepmother
please,
give me a collect call
my stepmother
in heaven?
God we need to talk
my stepmother, in heaven....…
give me a break
take me to the suburbs of hell
LIFE—Self Realization
I awoke this morning only
to find life is full of recycled garbage
of someone's yesterday.
And I gathered my sewerage;
and I took the baggage with me
into my dream
into my world
to a corner somewhere.
You Make Me Complete
(for you)
as the tree cannot grow without its roots
and the hands cannot move without the arm
so, I cannot live without your love -
as the earth needs the rain
so do my soul needs your presence
let me tell you gently
my life would not be the same
if you take away your presence;
understand me, I would be incomplete,
if I am without your love
just as a candle would be
without a flame
NOSTALGIA
if home
were a bunch of pictures
neatly will I wrap them
beneath armpit
if the sea
were a drop of liquid
I will bottle enough
for my suitcase
and if the mounts
at home were just grains of sand
I will cup a spoonful
for myself
I will bring them with me
sit them on my lap
to build a treasure in my dreams
to cure nostalgia in my soul
GIVING THANKS
walking through a road one mid morning
like one pacing on a proscenium of sorrow
I paused between memory and what I know
to scan every footsore straggled in the dunes
across the breast of the sidewalk
buried leaves leaped to greet my eyes
I saw the leaves change faces like dresses
at the entrance to the kingdom of joy
in the mystic rhythm of their dances
I saw my own dead leaves flowering, pulsing
and I put my head down in my palm
I gave thanks for my life
I picked one leaf golden brown at my feet
it was a prince several ages ago
why are you golden brown, I asked
life, it said, made me golden brown
sometimes a barefoot thrust in a dust
sometimes the smell of sun on a stench
they all bury my hopes in turpentine
they make my steps roll backwards
I closed the circuit and saw in my soul
all these years no whirling dead ants
faded my steps nor owls in winter trees
ever turned away the Divine Presence
soon what seems like a babe melting
like oil before fire is now a man
in a warrior’s gait with trophies
sure to weather the storm
why am I dancing leaning close to happiness
beneath the dark sky jumping in the rain
singing like bees in a tunneled hive
while others breathe frost wondering
why my lips join my tongue for hymns
I say thanks to the breast
whose milk watered
my thousand acre thought-fields
I say thanks to the Divine Eye
it sings lullabies now and now to rest my soul
my thanks is a poem rising through heaven
sharpening constellations into bright
clarities like sunflowers always to the Sun
like lyrics proudly sent on wings of the wind
TILL THAT TIME
(for you)
here we are looking into each other’s
eyes with a mountain of stories
sorry the meeting was so short
but a look into your eyes tells me
we'll meet again swaying like sunflowers
for you this day may belong to the past
but the embrace you give whispers a future
they talk to me about unknown tastes I'll get used to
and what you do not know is henceforth all
generations shall whisper your name in the valley
you may doubt this promise as if it is
a soft whirring sound of a bell chiming far off
but I am not that man who forgets so easily
the names of workers who laid the railroad;
someday, when you return you'll meet me
as a stonemason handling your name on marbles
to say to you how I'll remember you
or tell you how much you touched me
let me just whisper it simply into your ears
I'll remember how we sat here by the stream
and with our eyes towards heaven
we built our home in the stars
I can still see the light in your eyes
I can still hear your voice like a flute calling
like the wind drumming to me to dance
till that time when we meet again
my heart says: some memories would fade
but my thoughts about you would never die
THE SMELL OF EXILE
we grew up at home
with a warrior thrust tuning
our souls to sounds of crickets
to rhythms of the soil
to smells of the rivers
knowing large dreams of moonlight joy
we grew up there in an ever-rebounding
spirit learning songs of seasons
that dressed our umbilical cords
for the harvest of our dreams—
songs fathers sang in the cycle
many rainless seasons ago
many seasons ago
we walked into the snow sea
waving goodbye to invisible lines
that etched truths of our umbilical cords
into our being into our minds into our hearts
when father died this morning
we were featherless eagles looking
for remnants of our nest among anthills
at a traffic light fragmented by hideous sores
we lost the burial songs golden by a sun
which made the dead sleep like babes
the splash of colors, the smell of exile
the poverty of dispossession soaked our souls
they caked memories of green hills
held us trustees of resentment
everywhere above our skies locusts burst dams
while the roar of holy water
drowned the glutton voices of our fathers
our blood drank the pus from wounds
buried deep by the locusts beneath the skin
we lost our dreams of a harvest
to the splash of colors
we drowned the songs of our fathers
in the roar of the holy water
there are many seas to cross
with deadly triangular calm
congeal tenacious death breaths
to scream at our tenacious fate
it is only a season ago, yet
we no longer posses the sounds of the crickets
we no longer dance to the rhythms of the soil
what we have is the pus from the wounds
buried deep by the locusts beneath our skin
HAVEN’T WE SURVIVED
we’ve walked through the storm
endured endless peaks of pains
we’ve lived nightmares
encountered unforgivable cruelty
away from the comforts of home
we’ve been bent double
like old beggars under sacks
knocked around, coughing like hags,
we’ve been cursed
and asked to sleep in the sludge
as if we live behind wagons at home
at times, we gasp through dark nights
go lost in gaping voids
times like this we lost beloved ones
we couldn’t live without
in the valleys of loneliness
we drenched our clothes with tears
yet we thrived with passion and survived
and now we’ve flourished with style
why can’t we sing ululations
when we’ve survived the tides.
By Padmore Agbemabiese © May 25, 2004
PROPHECY
One day some day
I will claim my wings
I will seize the skies
I will take the land
one day some day
I will return your heart home
I will return your soul to the land
the land of your father's birth
you will return to the land
reading poems of love
from ribbons of human touch
drinking from pools of human laughter
you'll see dreams of amazing grace
one day some day
I will return
return in Waterfalls of Fire
I will return to trembling eyes
step on mounds of burning chaos
pick maggots hanging on mouths
crush the lies in living museums
and the Rainbow won't set
till the poor inherit the kingdom
till the hungry are filled
till they that weep laugh
in the land of their father's birth
TILL THAT TIME
(for you)
here we are looking into each other’s
eyes with a mountain of stories
sorry the meeting was so short
but a look into your eyes tells me
we'll meet again swaying like sunflowers
for you this day may belong to the past
but the embrace you give whispers a future
they talk to me about unknown tastes I'll get used to
and what you do not know is henceforth all
generations shall whisper your name in the valley
you may doubt this promise as if it is
a soft whirring sound of a bell chiming far off
but I am not that man who forgets so easily
the names of workers who laid the railroad;
someday, when you return you'll meet me
as a stonemason handling your name on marbles
to say to you how I'll remember you
to tell you how much you touched me
I'll remember how we sat here by the stream
and with our eyes towards heaven
we built our home in the stars
I can still see the light in your eyes
I can still hear your voice like a flute calling
like the wind drumming to me to dance
till that time when we meet again
my heart says: some memories would fade
but my thoughts about you would never die
MOMENTS IN LIFE
There are moments in life
when you miss someone
so much that you just want to pick them
from your dreams and hug them for real!
In this world there are challenges we fear
But when the door of happiness closes,
another opens; the problem is
often times we look so long at the
closed door that we don't see the new one,
which has been opened for us.
My grandma used to tell me:
Don't go for looks; they can deceive.
Don't even go for wealth;
that too fades away.
Go for someone who makes you smile,
because it takes only a smile to
make a dark day seem bright.
I have read in many books:
Dream what you want to dream;
go where you want to go;
be what you want to be,
because you have only one life
and one chance to do all the things
you want to do. But, be careful
what you choose and weary of what you dream.
Some dreams are nightmares
Anytime you pray, ask God to give you
enough happiness to make you sweet,
enough trials to make you strong,
enough sorrow to keep you human and
enough hope to make you happy.
But, don't ask for something that will
keep you away from the realities of this world.
Remember in this wide world
The happiest of people don't necessarily
have the best of everything;
they just make the most of
everything that comes along their way.
I have not lived long in this world
but there is something I have come to know:
The brightest future will always
be based on a forgotten past;
and you can't go forward in life
until you let go of
your past failures and heartaches.
Have you ever taken note of this:
that, when you were born, you were crying
and everyone around you was smiling.
Live your life so at the end,
you're the one who is smiling and everyone
around you is crying.
Padmore Agbemabiese © April 2004
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