Mary Ashun’s ‘Serwa Akoto’s Diary’ and One Poem I read on Radio

Before I went on air – Pic Cred: @WritersPG

On Sunday, I was on air on Citi FM 97.3 in Ghana (also online at citifmonline.com) reading a couple of poems on their Writers Project Program. I shared the studio with Mary Ashun, a Ghanaian/Canadian writer whose books are currently in good demand. Her books include Tuesday’s child and Mistress of the Game. You will be glad to have been among the first to know her before she has become a global household name. Check her website here. In the studio, she read an excerpt from her most recent book ‘Serwa Akoto’s Diary‘ and it was all sorts of amazing. Caller after caller kept asking where and how they could get a copy of the book. It is here on Amazon. Thankfully, she has sent me a pdf copy of the book and has given permission to share it with as many of you as want it. If anyone does, kindly contact me at delalorm(dot)kpeli(at)kasahorow(dot)com. Alternatively, comment on this post (I will see your email address on the back-end; it will not show on the blog) and I will be more than happy to share this book with you. It is a fast and exciting read.

I will post one poem I read at the studio and I hope you like it.  Thanks to all who listened, called in, messaged in and gave feedback on twitter, facebook and whatsapp. The poem is titled “New Hearts Grow.”

New Hearts Grow

The morning you left home
You left your heart on the dining table.
I called out after you, tried to run after the taxi that drove you away
To give your heart back.
But I was too late.
So I took it in and opened it up.
And peeped.

If it was mine, I would have left it too.
The walls, plastered over with broken promises
Bleached dreams competing for shine with blisters.
I saw the spot where he ran away from you
Many places, where pieces of heart resented the glue
The lesions, graffiti of infidelity
There was the day they took your innocence
You were still fourteen.
I shut the theater of your insides.

I tried again to return your heart
Praying all the while, it will never reach you
For the chance that you will feel none of this anymore
For the chance that where you were going, you would not have to need it.
For the chance that where you were going, new hearts grow.