Poet Profile

Adjei Agyei-Baah

Adjei Agyei-Baah is the co-founder/co-editor of Africa Haiku Network and Poetry Foundation Ghana. He holds MA in English and MBA in Strategic Management and Business Consulting from University of Ghana and KNUST School of Business respectively. He currently lectures Literature in English and Management on a part-time basis at University of Ghana Distance Learning Center, Kumasi Campus and Ghana Baptist University College, Kumasi. Adjei is the inventor and champion of Afriku – an avant-garde haiku type that focuses the unique images and setting of Africa. He is a widely anthologized poet both at home and abroad and his works have appeared in renowned journals, and literary websites such as The Heron’s Nest, Shamrock, Frogpond, World Haiku Review, Cattails, A Hundred Gourds, Brass Bell Haiku Journal, Asahi Haikuist Network, Yay Words, Indian Haiku Kukai, Maichini Daily, Akita Haiku International Haiku Network, Presence, European Kukai Kai, Africa Haiku Network, Wild Plum, Boston Poetry Magazines, Poetry Space-UK, Poetry Foundation Ghana, The Kalahari Review, etc. He is a member of Haiku Northwest, United States and United Haiku and Tanka Association (UHTS), United States. Adjei currently has been mentoring young Africa poets with interest in haiku with his African partner and brother, Emmanuel Jessie Kalusian with their new founded organization (Africa Haiku Network), with the core mission of promoting haiku across the Africa continent.

Awards and Other Honors: Winner of Akita Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Award, 3rd Japan-Russia Haiku Contest, (2014); “Night Reading”- First Runner Up, India Haiku Kukai (September, 2015); “Lonely”- David McMurray’s favorite haiku, 4thJapan-Russia Haiku Contest (2015); “deserted shore” Editor’s choice, Cattails, September Edition (2015); “An old fighter jet”, Zatsuei, Haiku of Merit World Haiku Review (December, 2011) “Bamboo grove”, Honorable Mention, Vanguard Haiku, World Haiku Review (August, 2012); “Burial ground”-Honorable Mention, Vanguard Haiku, World Haiku Review (Dec, 2012); “Fallen leaves”- Honorable Mention, Vanguard Haiku, World Haiku Review (Dec, 2012). “Wedding Day”, Zatsuei, Haiku of Merit, World Haiku Review (August, 2012);“Disputed Land” - Zatsuei, Haiku of Merit, World Haiku Review (January, 2014); First Haiku from Africa to be recorded into song by Naviar Records (August, 2015); “Castle Cannon”-Vanguard, Honorable Mention, World Haiku Review (January,2014); “For The Mountain” - a poem selected by BBC to represent Ghana in a poetry postcard project at the 2014 Commonwealth Games held at Glasgow, Scotland; “Ashanti” - poetry portrait written and presented to the King of Ashanti @ Akwasidae in Manhyia Palace (2008); “In the Grey Hair of Soyinka” –a poem written and presented as portrait to Wole Soyinka on his 81st Birthday (2015); “One Man’s Calling Calls Another", A paper presented in honor of Kofi Awoonor at “Kofi Awoonor and the Challenge of History, 2014” at Yiri Lodge, University of Ghana; “The Haiku Poetry Champion, 2015” -The Newaccra Achievers List (2015); 3rd Place Winner, TV3 Ghana Mothers’ Day Poetry Contest, dubbed “Mother With A Purpose 2008” with the poem “Mother is Supreme”; Guest poet at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai (August, 2015); Panel Judge at Ghana Poetry Prize Contest (2013).

Books Published: Afriku [Haiku & Senryu from Ghana] (Forthcoming in 2016); Embers of Fireflies (Forthcoming in 2016). Co-edited Books: Poetry Ink [A poetry collection for Senior High schools in Ghana] (2012); Krohinko [an anthology of 120 poems from Ghana Poetry Prize 2013] (Forthcoming in 2016); Sunrise East and Sunset West [Anthology of poems from Ghana and Kenya in honor of Kofi Awoonor] (Forthcoming, 2016); Essay: "The Making of African Haiku (Afriku)" (First published by Poetry Foundation Ghana, 2014); “Leafless Tree-The African Haiku Experience” (First Published by Anansekrom.org, 2015). “History of Haiku in Ghana (Upcoming, 2016); The History of Haiku in Africa (Upcoming, 2016).

leafless tree
lifting a cup of nest
to the sky

disputed land
crows flout 
borderlines

deserted shore
the wind sharpens its voice
over a conch

roadside walk
a beggar stretches
leg as hand

night reading
a hanging spider drops 
into its shadow

full moon
a scarecrow watches
its own shadow

Credits: "leafless tree"- Akita Haiku International Network (2014); "deserted shore"- Cattails (September, 2015); "night reading" - First Runner Up, India Haiku Kukai (September, 2015); "disputed land"- Haiku of Merit, World Haiku Review (January, 2014); "roadside walk" - The Heron’s Nest XIV:No. 2 (June, 2012); "full moon" - Shamrock Haiku Journal 25 (2013).