Totems by Ama Ata Aidoo

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I

came upon an owl

at the crossroads

blinking with confusion

greater than

mine!

Bird of doom.

Bird of promise.

Fluorescent lightning on a

city corn-field,

tell the owl of

the changing times.

They-of-the-Crow

cannot

carve out

destinies through

marriage.

Whoever can?

He does

too well by her,

and

she always

knows when

starched rags go to swaddle

another’s baby.

Dodua of the light palms:

She is hanging out the

last new to dry from its

first washing.

Perch where you can, and

tell your story. They make

us believe that all roofs

cover homes from the rain.

Akua my sister,

No one chooses to stand

under a tree in a storm.

So

You

shall not be the one to remind

Me

to keen for the great ancestors and

call to mind the ruined hamlet

that was once

the Home of Kings.

Itu kwan

ma

Adze sa wo aa

na

Adze asa wo!!!