In My Home Office

In my home office

a demanding task

never time for a cover-up

as I sit near my coffee cup

 

upright at my standing desk

there’s no time to letup

have at least 3 computer screens

as I work during this quarantine

 

just do a personal checkup

in a fit of hygiene

sterilize my triple keyboard

this practice not to be ignored

 

getting tired but must reconvene

keep it real not overboard

here on my wall the world map

putting together my word wrap

 

there is so much unexplored

new words for my legal rap

surrounded by photographs

always helps with my paragraphs

 

piles of paper on my lap

hope right now I don’t collapse

mail ordered a rocker board

never enough java stored

 

thinking of days with giraffes

praying to God I don’t get bored

now it’s time to light the lamp

end the day with writer’s cramp

 

night sets sail— come aboard

tackle this case like a champ

excuse me for I hear the printer

thankful to be the breadwinner

 

someday I’ll be out of home camp

anyday or perhaps midwinter

meanwhile I must be cautious

taking care to not feel nauseous

 

 

imagining a lobster dinner

stuck here in my home office

looking so statuesque

this is my manifest

Lake Bosumtwi

 

A meteor struck

filled with rain

fish came

 

twenty tribes

along the shore

speak Twi

 

fishermen

& their families

tour guides too

 

akwaaba   welcome

medaase   thank you

mayera   I’m lost

 

primary school

helps the children

learn English

 

sacred lake to Ashanti

protect her

life-sustaining waters

 

Tumi nyina ne asase

All power emanates

from the earth

 

 

_________________

NaPoWriMo prompt to write a place poem.  Lake Bosumtwi is the only natural lake in Ghana,  an ancient impact crater.

 

 

Three Poems of Our Time

 

Don’t Touch

 

I want so much

to wipe my eyes

from tearing up

these hands held

together

in hope

 

 

 

Together as a Family

 

Now that we are together

as a family

she can cook

I wash

he will dry

we will eat together

in thankfulness

 

 

 

Another Day

 

Another day

of washing hands

disinfecting countertops

& groceries

staying in

holding on

Returning

 

October 30, 2019, returning from Athens to NYC.   My daughter and I had traveled together for two months without having any major disagreements. There was just one night in Dubai when I was verging on being a selfish, judgmental person; I got over it. At the outset of the trip, I said I wanted only three things— to go to Prayer Mountain in Ghana, to do a day trip to Morocco, and to visit Pompeii.   I am easy to please most of the time.

 

I take it back. There was a moment on the train from the Athens airport to our hotel in the heart of Athens when I was so nervous about getting off at the correct station that two pickpockets targeted us. My daughter felt a hand in her bag and looked the thief in the eye. He bolted without her wallet. It was an elaborate scheme where one thief held the door from opening, while the other went for the cash. My lesson— stay alert, don’t become a victim.

 

Now that I am remembering— the other time my daughter got mad at me was at the Catania Airport when I turned into an “ugly American” and told off a group of Italians on the tarmac bus to move closer together so everyone could get on. I was shouting in English and nobody moved an inch.

 

 

trip of a lifetime

pray for Europe  Africa

and all of the world

 

 

 

dVerse prompt to use a poem written about myself and write a haibun based on that poem. I used my poem Language written October 7, 2019, while I was on this trip and at one point, didn’t know where I was. Now I pray that someday I can return, especially to Ghana.

Red Pear

red pear                       so rare

soft skin                       juicy

taste                             delicious

 

 

 

 

 

Hope in the Desert

I was slipping on a mossy hillside

green against my skin

ready to slide

I am lying in a forest of ferns

green against my skin

beautiful bed

I saw a rainbow in the East

green against my skin

hope in the desert

______________

NaPoWriMo Day #1 prompt— a self-portrait poem in metaphor— how nature and God provide

Egret

egrets’s black-tipped wings

fly over my head at sunset

who knows where they go

 

____________________________

NaPoWriMo