Haiku Workshop by Adjei Agyei-Baah in Ghana
2017/04/20
Haiku Workshop by Adjei Agyei-Baah in Ghana
Finally, below are the pictures and the best 30 haiku from the haiku workshop Adjei Agyei-Baah facilitated with students of the Creative Writing Class of the Department of English, University of Ghana, Legon on 17th April 2017.
The workshop was co-facilitated by Ms. Celestine Nudanu, Adjei’s fellow haikuist from home who came over to render her support.
Please enjoy and share thoughts!!
1
frog on a lilypad
the longing
for a wet satisfaction
2
lights out
we find new friends
moon and stars
3
night time
my dirty deeds
blanketed by darkness
–Kofi Addo
4
driving home
a gap in the window
sneaks in the rain
–Sophia Abraham-Raveson
5
vanished stars
the thought of patching up
the holes for the rains
–Conrad Yeboah
6
after the rain—
toads croak a symphony
in tenor and bass
7
lapping waves
the moon slips
under a leaf
8
first rain
busy ants patching
their hill
–Mimi Borders
9
April morning
passing clouds slip through
the chameleon’s skin
10
class full
the simmering heat
from an unannounced quiz
–Hassan Abdulai
11
wild winds
bowing and breaking branches—
my resilience fails
12
still dawn
after the muezzin’s call
the bellow of a bull
–Andy Martei
13
cold night
passing clouds drape
and undrape the moon
–Hakeem Adam
14
my I-phone
freezes my heart
as it drops down
15
whatsapp—
enough of emoji
naught of emotion
–Sarfo Kantanka Julian
16
the cock crows
the c*ck grows
morning has come again
17
pouring rain
drifting me along into
your ocean of bliss
–Ekar Patrick Y. Y.
18
rough road—
not again
with my best shoe
19
tears…
my outlet
even the skies understand
20
scorching sun
but shirt still wet
isn’t it ironic?
21
wakeup call
a bird perching at the edge
of my dream
–Frances Nutchful
22
sunflower meadow
with a blue sky setting
what more can the poet ask for?
23
home from fruit shop
a drop apple rolls
to the feet of waiting lover
–Henry Bolster
24
jittery mother hen
moving back and forth
chick in gutter
25
moon—
settling on the last giggle
of the day
26
perching birds on tree
one takes off
and tows the rest
–Dyla MacQuaye
27
flowing river
dripping songs
into my soul
28
the caterpillar
ends its journey–
a butterfly
–Sandy Bashee
FACILITATORS HAIKU
29
searching for a birdsong
in the tree
a splash of shit
–Adjei Agyei-Baah
30
patching up
the crack in my dream
sunrise
—Celestine Nudanu
By Hidenori Hiruta
Let haiku be on the UNESCO list! (39)
2015/12/11
Let haiku be on the UNESCO list!
On December 10, 2015, Mr. Adjei Agyei-Baah in Ghana, kindly sent me an e-mail as follows.
Dear Hiruta san,
I must say Basho’s bug has also caught up with our continent Africa and to be more specific my part of the land, Ghana that we cannot afford to add our voice to the campaign to make haiku as part of the UNESCO list, as haiku continue to be a fast spreading poetry genre uniting mankind into one big family.
We might have become fascinated by haiku due to is brevity and yet saying a lot. Perhaps a confirmation of Robert Southey quote on brevity, “It is with words as with sunbeams. The more they are condensed, the deeper they burn”.
To us, haiku in its brevity, akin to a pill can be taken once a day to subdue the stress of humanity and put a smile on our lips as we interact with people in our daily engagements.
Ghana around 2006 discovered and had her first haiku published by Nana Fredua Agyeman in the 2006 winter edition of Simply Haiku, and had continue to deepen herself in the aesthetics of the art with her contemporary poets like Jacob Kobina Mensha, Adjei Agyei-Baah, Celestine Nudanu, Prince K. Mensah Kojo Turson, Kweku Feni Adow, Justice Prah etc. who have embraced the haiku art as the fastest way of telling the African story to the world especially in this modern age of information explosion where people hardly stop to read lengthy text.
In short, we write to add our unwavering support to you and Akita Haiku Networks in your effort to make haiku as part of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Haiku indeed as an art cuts across cultures, boundaries, borders, and races and religion, and we beautifully justify it like this:
black coffee
white sugar
I stir the world into oneness
Adjei Agyei-Baah (Ghana)
We wish you the best in this great pursuit for the love of humanity.
Warmly,
Adjei Agyei-Baah (Ghana)
Co-founder, Africa Haiku Network
Here is a haiku photo by Adjei Agyei-Baah.
