Book of the Week: Much Of It: Haiku by Ghanian Poet Jacob Kobina Ayiah Mensah
From Bealtaine – Jacob Kobina Ayiah Mensah is a mixed-media artist. He has practiced art all his life. His dreams and memories are his inspiration, which translates in his work to magic realism, surrealism, religion and hallucination. He says he is a proud ‘citizen of the earth’ and enjoys living in ‘chaos’. He is currently living in southern Ghana.
“I have included innovations I have invented and practised over the time. I have
called these inventions akron (u), nergu and bongu. Akron (u) is a monoku with
nine syllables . It has the voice that flows without breaking. Example is “falling
away from something enough “. Nergu is the haiku form that has three line and
each with five syllables. The voice runs from the first word of the first line to the
last word of the third line without breaking.” An example is:
enough to wonder
about the next step
taking from silence
You can read the entire book in the THF Digital Library and please share your favorite poem from the book with us.
Do you have a chapbook published in 2018 or earlier that you would like featured as a Book of the Week? Contact us for details. Haiku featured in the Book of the Week Archive are selected by THF Digital Librarian Dan Campbell and are used with permission.
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I’m grateful to be introduced to the work of Jacob Kobina Ayiah Mensah, and I look forward to reading his work. I love that he has invented forms himself.
A different voice that I enjoyed reading. My favorites:
a foot in both worlds granted residency
immigrants in the future pointing to nothing
rain
falls
short
Thank you Dan for the varied diet!
Of these, my favourite is (p.32):
rain
falls
short