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THE LONELY GHANAIAN In the crucible of abroad Ghanaians are suffering I saw him...... The living-dead abroad In his work uniform Preening his uniform In Gaithersburg, Maryland Near the Savannah grocery lot Swinging his pitchfork Adjusting his name tag Foraging for garbage Hunting for garbage Drowned in putrid tears Tears of alienation Tears of homesickness He got closer to me His name tag invited me He was a Ghanaian abroad Alone, lost in the world Entombed in a parking lot Where lifelessness exists The cemetery of living abroad The acre of the living-dead The Savannah Grocery�s lot Where Ghanaians shop Shop their life abroad away Groceries of homesickness Ah! Ada koobi (salted fish) Ah! Keta school boys Ah! Akuapem adwene (mud-fish) Ah! Ga kenkey & shito Ah! Fante dokono and butter Ah! Kwahu ampane (bat) Ah! Asante grasscutter I saw him In a parking-lot Savannah Grocery lot The living-dead Ghanaian Fathering a pitchfork Mothering a brush/broom Speaking to himself Shaking his head Smiling at nothing Laughing at himself Then like a thunderstorm Riotous tears poured Tear-ing-up at nothingness Uncontrollable tears Welling up his eye sockets Like a broken dam in a valley Like a broken inner-spring Watersheds of acidic pain Of lost hope Of homesickness Of alienation Of loneliness Tears poured, flooded Cascaded over his cheeks Like the Boti Falls on rocks I saw him Hauntingly gaunt Sauntering with a pitchfork A snail at crossroads His shadow beamed slowly Snailing the parking lot Sad, forlorn-movement Entombed in a parking lot I saw him Swinging brush/broom I saw him pitch-forking Befriending happy stray papers Befriending jaundiced papers Befriending dead butts of cigarette Befriending tattered rubber bags And his pitchfork/brush recoiled I saw him Defining his space Marching west, east Marching south, north All in a day�s work II: ALL GHANAIANS ARRIVED I saw them all The walking dead Ghanaians Silent and dead in their strides Looking for their lost past Their sterile present In staple foods Kokonte, fufu , kenkey, akpele Ah! Food is plentiful But loneliness, alienation Lethal back-breaking work Toxic church membership Vicious gossipy neighbors Poisonous family problems Systemic white racism Murder appetite for food For kokonte (face the wall) For gari, fufu For Ga kenkey, akpele For tuo safi, Fante dokono Food is plentiful But appetite is long-lost Lost to alienation of self I saw them all I saw the living-dead Ghanaians In Gaithersburg, Maryland Near the Savannah grocery shop Speaking to themselves Shaking their heads Smiling at nothing Then tears arrived Uncontrollable tears Welling up their eye sockets Watersheds of pain Of lost hope Of homesickness Of alienation Of loss of the self Tears of pain Cascaded over their cheeks In the crucible of abroad Ghanaians are suffering