BRING ME YESTERDAY
just when the sun traded light with the moon,
& the shores fell asleep
they waded into our waves
in coats shimmering like heaven—angelic—
harassing our coasts
they planted a white cross
in the mouth our bay
+++saying
+++++++++your sisal is fetish
+++++++++with your cowries you shall perish
+++++++++come to us and be saved
so i forsook my sisal
crushed my cowries inside a cave
they washed me before they named me
or perhaps they named me inside the stream
+++chanting
+++++++++in the name of the father
+++++++++of the son
+++++++++and of the holy spirit
& pressed onto the back of my palm
a kiss
that tasted like betrayal
agyeman was dredged into james,
as if i were a newborn
promising
i had been chosen to flourish
somewhere inside their cross
stood a bloodthirsty sword
hunting the breath of the men
who poured libation to asaase yaa, goddess of the earth
& aching for the breast
of the women who rested
their faith in nana bosompo, the sea god
they slit my father’s throat
before my eyes,
sagged my mother’s soul within a day
then chained me
gold became the argument
a rickety ship finished everything else
now here i sit
afloat
adrift
far away from the moons that once knew my shadow
a body
curved into james
with a tongue
that burns tweduampon with an accent
here
every hymn
arrives in white robes
drums beat without a god
alarms call the shots in worship
& the cockcrow doesn’t welcome the morning
but somewhere in between
the sea
& salt
the tide returns
agyemang swinging
in the waves of yesterday.
====
Poem (c) Emmanuel Papa Quansah
Image: Meca Jane Tabada on Unsplash