at makola - Rob Taylor

- for Millicent, upon the street clearing of Accra, February 2007.

at makola women earn pennies porting twice their weight on their heads, their thin sandals sliding just over the thick concrete cloth draped and folded delicately atop the panting earth. at makola smallboys clip toenails and dig knives into the fleshy corners, scrape out filings of dirt and blow them off their glinting blades then open their palms meekly to the shadows. at makola old men sell tabloids on rape, incest, priests and politicians for fifty cents a pop, old women sell live crayfish and crabs in metal bowls, keep them at bay with long wooden sticks. at makola children in uniforms move briskly through corridors, hold books tight against their chests as they wind their way home. at makola the invisible rich extend hands out lowered tinted windows to buy bread and rice from bruised, scrambling saleswomen. at makola the streets are shut down every saturday for funerals to men who died months earlier and the market whirls in red and black kente, mourners dancing slowly, hawkers behind them sweating over crates of beer and minerals. at makola half the stalls are built illegally and many of the market women are smuggled in from war zones. at makola people talk of business, football, america – people yell and shake. at makola vendors are starting to complain, the police are getting anxious – someone is going to die, though there may not be bullets or blood. at makola the shops will close and reopen, will be torn down and rebuilt – lives will be buried and excavated. at makola the earth will again shed its clothes, lay itself down amongst the swirling throng, disappear, and wait to be remembered.

Author Profile - Rob Taylor

Biography:

Rob Taylor lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He is a graduate of Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. His poetry has appeared in numerous print and online magazines, and he has published a chapbook, entitled splattered earth. He is a co-founder of SFU's High Altitude Poetry, and an editor at Red Fez.

He lived in Ghana with his partner, Marta, from September 2006 until March 2007. His chapbook manuscript of poems from Ghana, entitled child of saturday, is currently seeking a publisher.

The poem "at makola" appeared previously in The New Chief Tongue.

Rob is a co-founder of One Ghana, One Voice.

Five Questions with Rob Taylor:

1. What made you write about Makola?

I wrote "at makola" in February 2007, as the street-clearing in downtown Accra (in preparation for the Ghana @ 50 celebrations) was in full swing. I did much of my shopping at the time at Makola and many of the vendors I had gotten to know quite well suddenly disappeared.

The poem wasn't so much written in response to the street-clearing, though that is referenced at the end, instead it was more that the street-clearing got me thinking about Makola, about what was being destroyed in the name of "cleanliness."


2. As a Canadian by birth and an African at heart, what changes do you reckon you've brought to the poetry society in Africa?

Ha! Not very many. I think all of us here at OGOV have accomplished something good, but it is only a small step in a very long journey. It is exciting, though, to see all the budding talent we've been able to profile, who will serve as leaders in the coming stages.


3. How different is poetry in Canada from what you see and saw in Ghana, since you've had the privilege of staying in both places?

Privilege is the right word in both cases, as each is an incredible country whose people and landscape have shaped who I am.

Canadian poetry is much more established. There are large numbers of university programs, journals and awards. In part because there are so many institutions and publications promoting poetry, there is a good amount of high-quality poetry published in Canada. Sadly though, what is more often published is over-workshopped, over-polished poetry that says very little, and that has a negligible effect on the Canadian population in general.

I think it is the exact opposite in Ghana. There are few university programs, journals, etc. Because of that, and because of high illiteracy rate, many people never approach poetry at all. Those who do, however, are brimming with a pure passion, if not necessarily technical know-how, for what they do.

The overall quality of the writing produced in Ghana may currently be lower than that in Canada, but it is also far more accessible and relevant to the Ghanaian population than Canadian poetry is to Canadians. This is a firm base upon which to build a new generation of Ghanaian verse.


4. What are your plans for the coming years as far as OGOV is concerned?

I don't have big plans for OGOV - if we are still alive in a few years I'll be happy!

From the start, I never wanted OGOV to dominate the poetry scene in Ghana, but instead to provide inspiration for others to start new projects and take the lead. This is part of why discussions like our latest Roundtable Discussion are so important.

Already, many poets are setting up personal websites and submitting to international publications, in part through our encouragement here at OGOV. Next, hopefully, new projects will begin springing up, such as a reading series or a print journal. Specifically there, I'd love to see Legon's long defunct literary journal The Legacy revived by students there - and if anyone is interested in that, I'd be happy to lend a hand.


5. How best do you think we can improve upon conditions in markets in Ghana, considering what you saw in Makola?

I think the key is to look at markets like Makola as symptoms of larger problems - as barometers of social and economic wellbeing. Often, people work in the markets because they cannot get work elsewhere, and people shop in the markets because they cannot afford to shop elsewhere.

No permanent solutions ever come from "cleaning up" market areas - they reappear later in either the same place or elsewhere. Instead, clearing markets gives people a false sense of progress, and ultimately delays real action from being taken on the issues that keep so many Ghanaians in poverty.

Contact Rob:

Email: roblucastaylor(at)gmail.com
Website: rollofnickels.blogspot.com

Rob's Past Profiles:

Issue 1.13, June 16th - 22nd, 2007

five hours from tamale, back of the bus - Rob Taylor

perhaps this is joy or perhaps the delusions of pain
though it hardly seems to matter which
because i am smiling and the girl across the aisle,
body contorted, like my own,
around farm animals and furniture and kitchenware,
is smiling too –
a kindred emotion jutting up from the potholes,
through the wheel well and bus bench to her tailbone,
and finally through her rattling lips and out.

in solidarity, i compose a poem for her in my mind,
pledge to write it down once we disembark
and regain the use of our limbs
though i know it will no longer be the same poem,
and her name will have been jostled from my memory.

so i dedicate this, instead, to all the nameless girls of my life –
not the poem i am composing but the feeling that is swelling
through my hips and bouncing violently up my spine
which is perhaps joy or the delusions of pain,
though it hardly seems to matter now which.

Author Profile - Rob Taylor

Biography:

Rob Taylor lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He is a graduate of Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. His poetry has appeared in numerous print and online magazines, and he has published a chapbook, entitled splattered earth. He is a co-founder of SFU's High Altitude Poetry.

He lived in Ghana with his partner, Marta, from September 2006 until March 2007. His chapbook manuscript of poems from Ghana, entitled child of saturday, is currently seeking a publisher.

The poem five hours from tamale, back of the bus appeared previously in the January 2007 issue of High Altitude Poetry.

Rob is a co-founder of One Ghana, One Voice.

Five Questions with Rob Taylor:

1. How long have you been writing poetry?

I’ve been writing since 2001 and working to get my poems published since 2004.


2. Who are your favorite poets? Which poets have most inspired you and informed your work?

The two writers who, in high school, first got me interested in poetry were Robert Frost and Paul Simon. Currently, my favorite poets include Al Purdy, Charles Bukowski, Carl Sandburg, Kobena Eyi Acquah, Langston Hughes, Aislinn Hunter, Billy Collins, Armand Garnet Ruffo, Liam Ford, Jenn Ku, and Mariner Janes. Since starting this site that list has expanded to include Julian Adomako-Gyimah, Vida Ayitah, and others. Amongst that list, the poets that have most influenced my own writing style would be Purdy, Sandburg, Collins, Ford and Janes.


3. You are a Canadian, right? So why the strong interest in promoting poetry on Ghana, and Africa, for that matter?

I lived in Accra with my partner, Marta, for seven months (September 2006 to March 2007). During my time in Accra one of the things I wanted to do most was find other writers who could inspire and encourage me, and vice versa. I had great difficulty doing this, however, and found myself very isolated as a writer. This was additionally frustrating to me because when it came to other passions in my life, especially football, there were easily accessible, lively communities that I could get involved with.

As I continued to study Ghanaian literature, I learned just how vibrant a writing community there has been in Ghana in the past. Everyone knows the big names of the 60s and 70s: Kofi Awoonor, Efua Sutherland, etc. But who are the big names now? Where is the next generation of writers? I couldn’t find them anywhere.

With the writer’s community appearing to me to be so weak, I wanted to do something to help, and upon meeting Julian we were spurred to set up this site as one very small contribution to the re-construction of Ghana’s writing community.


4. What impact do you think poetry and poets can have on the socio-cultural setting and politics in Ghana?

One thing I love about Ghanaian poetry is how overtly political it often is. Many of the poems on this site, such as “This Is The Time”, “Portrait” and "Atonement" have tackled political issues head on. This is very rarely, if ever, attempted in North America, especially in Canada. Because of this, I think Ghanaian poetry has a greater potential to influence the minds of the public, and of the decision-makers themselves, than North American poetry.

Ghanaian poets usually seem to be trying to tell their readers something – to communicate an idea or a strong emotion. In North America, it is often hard to tell whether authors are considering their audience at all, which makes their writing far more isolated and unable to influence their society.

That being said, do I think the impact of poetry and poets on Ghanaian society is currently great? Not at all. But I think it has the potential to be great, so long as talented poets keep writing and promoting their work, and keep building and expanding upon a community of interested readers.


5. What is the way forward for Ghanaian and African poets? In other words, how do you see Ghanaian poets within the next few years?

I feel that it’s not my place to suggest a way forward. Granted, I would like to see One Ghana, One Voice play a role in the development of a stronger Ghanaian writing community, but only a peripheral role. Ghanaian organizations such as the Pan-African Writers Association and The Writers Fund of Ghana, along with strong-minded and talented individuals, are the ones who are doing the most important work, and who should take the lead going forward.

Beyond suggesting any particular direction, what I would like to see is more action: more participation and more conversations between writers. Who knows where those conversations will take Ghanaian poetry, but I, for one, look forward to watching it happen.

Contact Rob:

Email: email.rob.taylor(at)gmail.com
Website: rollofnickels.blogspot.com