The Hustler

I am but a pin in this strangling place;

A manic world drowning in sensual excess.

Yonder lies only shameless opulence,

And here, shameful squalor and discontent

Where cats eat mice and cheese 

And the mice must eat other mice.

Each day I jostle with the thousands 
In the sweltering noon sun at Nima
With hands and breast, I must heave and cleave,

The foundation of new mansions at Ashongman

Must push and pull truck and cart

Through Kantamanto and Mallam Atta

And nudge my way through the madding crowds

At Ashaiman and Agbogbloshie 
Till I hear the clink of copper in my pocket 
Or see the precious red paper at hand
To buy only stale bread and pure water,
Pay one macho man to ease myself,
And another one to wash,
And the rest to an indolent landlord 

at Sodom and Gomorrah
Whose only estate is the half-rotten kiosk
Where at the coming of darkness
With my legs as heavy as lead,
My muscles sickly with fatigue
And all my joints disjointed,
I suffocate with eight brothers from my village,
Tossing to the tune of a million mosquitoes, 
Singing ominous choruses all night long

With a family of mice gnawing at our feet. 

Have you read: Village Boy Impressions - Accra

I shall not see another nightfall here! 
But shall return in haste to my home

In the beautiful North
Where the Trade Wind blows 

To reveal the chicken’s rump;
The night is lit by a happy moon,
And a cockerel rises to herald the coming day.

There, I shall raise chickens, goats, and sheep. 
And watch the calves grow into cows. 
There I shall till the fields and tend the crops.

Maize, millet, groundnuts, and cowpea 
Shall thrive and flourish under my gaze. 
There, I can rest under the ageless neem tree, 
From the heat of the marauding noonday sun,
And drink my fill of frothy zu-nyiem[1] at noon, 
Eat my fill of saab[2] and wokta[3] soup at evening,
And whether on the mat or the dampala;[4]
I shall silence the mosquitoes with my snores!

---

24th October 2019

[1] A drink prepared by mixing millet flour and water

[2] Millet gruel - served with different types of soups, especially in Northern Ghana

[3] Kenaf leaves (Hibiscus cannabinus)

[4] Logs of wood placed outside a compound for siting either in the afternoon or in the evening. Typically has a hut over them for shade.