JUSTICE JOSEPH PRAH FROM ACCRA; BABISHAI 2017 HAIKU SHORTLIST

Justice Joseph Prah is from Accra, a poet who believes in poetri-evolution by a vibrant generation.


 

What drew you to enter for the competition?
 It is just one driving force, an urge to be part of a continental history African haiku poets are once again inscribing down for posterity. I personally belong to the school of thought which believes in the ground thinking that if Africa's poetriscape would continue to sustain its formidability and resilience in the face of those exclusive 21st century adversities, then keen contest of this caliber must often be organised to unearth the latent talent in young but vibrant generation; a class of poets more poised to the teeth to introduce what I always refer to as poetri-evolution.

  Do you have a particular personal story with haikus?
Great question! Where do I start from? My word! Let's say at the early part of 2015 I wonderfully met a crop of haiku geniuses with exceptionally creative prowers to write the art! I sincerely got jerked up to the art and since reached the resolute decision to practice it myself. In fact, the rotational tenet on which Ku is fundamentally hinged is what comes to me as a matchless fascination which the  likes of Ezra pound, Robert Frost, Kofi Awoonor and Wole Soyinka may have missed and are still missing entirely during their writing epoch.

 What do you feel towards the shortlist in general?
Honestly, as a keen haiku analyst in Africa, I am summarily excited the historical register of Afriku poets is evidenty stretching on and on. The shortlisted Afriku poems show an incredible gamut of wisdom which, in my view, is undeniably equal the girth of the Golden Boabab. Those are topnotch literary crystals worth mounting in a gallery any season. Every icon who successfully migrated through thorough scrutiny onto the shortlist has proven to be an African and not an Africant in practising the ancient Japanese poetry.

  What motivation do poets need, to keep writing, in this ridiculously competitive world that vies for their attention?

You see the active stimulant that could spur poets on to pursue a sustainable poetry career is factually relative. However, our individual variances can be tailored into one pursuance to work out for the common good of the continent. It will be necessary for key players like Pan-African Writers Association and their contemporaries to cajole many home-bred poets to frequently use the quill. These associations should do more than they are currently doing to encourage young African writers write for the libraries and the world beyond. Currently, their gesture toward Afriku is absolutely nothing to commend.

 Aside from that, it would be incumbent on every one of us to bring his or her own cream to the table! What do I mean by this? You see, when you come to the writing bench and it is literally crowded with various intellect, you have to do meticulous brainpress up, and this is what many of us especially African novelists, dramatists and poets have to do to jostle our way into the writing universe. Let us cash on a particular style of writing, surf through the debris of subject matters and themes and select the most suitable ones that have the steam to attract readers within and beyond our horizon( Africa). We must ready ourselves to write about our past, present and future solely for the continent, and explore the more the Afromodern matters so pertinent to Africans.

   If your 2017 submission was food, what would it be?
Wooow! You guys are really there! Hahah! Akple and okra soup with fried "keta schoolboys" hearings. Thank you.

Read his haiku here:

harmattan mango
the first ripening
in the midday sun

We at Babishai, congratulate him again. The winners will  be announced at the #Babishai2017 Poetry Festival dinner on Sunday 6 August at Humura Resort, Kitante Close. Cards are on sale at 40,000/- Call +256 703147862.
The full festival programme is here.
 http://babishainiwe.com/2017/07/17/babishai2017-poetry-festival-programme/

The full winning haikus are here:
http://bnpoetryaward.blogspot.ug/2017/07/the-babishai-2017-haiku-shortlist.html

FRED KWEKU FORSON FROM GHANA -#BABISHAI2017 HAIKU SHORTLIST

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    Fred Kweku Forson from Ghana, was shortlisted for the 2017 Babishai Haiku contest, inspired by one of last year;s winners, Kwaku Feni Adow, also from Ghana.

 

Fred Kweku Forson (Courtesy  photo)

          What drew you to enter for the competition?

I knew nothing about haiku as a type of poetry until one day on Facebook I read that a Ghanaian, Kwaku Feni Adow had won a haiku contest. I became curious and began to search for the meaning of haiku and all that it entails. After reading a little about it online and a lot more of the haiku others have written especially from the Mamba, I knew I could also be a haiku poet.

The opportunity then presented itself when I read on Facebook of a call to submission of haiku to the 2017 edition of the Babishai Niwe Poetry Foundation haiku contest. I didn’t waste time but began to pen some images/scenes and sounds down. I then submitted the first three haiku I ever tried my hands on and, hooray, it’s been shortlisted.

         Do you have a particular personal story with haikus?

I’ve been writing poems especially rhymes at my leisure times and whenever I wrote one, I would ask my younger brother to proofread for me. I really do worry him with that. He thinks I’m very good at the poems I write but frustrated since I’m not gaining anything from it. He feels I’m wasting that talent. Because of this, he would sometimes refuse to proofread my poems.

When I wrote the shortlisted haiku, I read it to him and asked him whether he finds any sense in it but he asked me to leave him alone and that he has better things to think about. I didn’t tell him I was submitting it for a contest though. So when he read of my haiku having been shortlisted in a contest, he came back from work that evening and reminded me of how he paid no attention to me when I asked him to ponder on the shortlisted haiku for me. We all laughed over it because he was so excited for my haiku having been shortlisted.

 What do you feel towards the shortlist in general?

After going through the shortlist, I was wowed by the exhibition of great African talents in haiku. It feels so intriguing to read such images and sounds briefly penned down by fellow Africans who respectively see and hear far beyond those images and sounds.

   What motivation do poets need to keep writing, in this ridiculously competitive world that vies for their attention?

I believe the greatest motivation of every poet is from within himself, the moment you begin to see and feel something within you, and you just can’t help it but to artistically express it in writing.

But one big external motivation of every poet, I believe, is knowing that his poems have a wider audience across the world and people actually find inspiration in his poems. Therefore, poets and their poems must be given the necessary exposure through competitions and features in journals like what Babishai Niwe Poetry Foundation and the Africa Haiku Network have respectively started doing, etc.

         If your 2017 submission was food, what would it be?

“Apapransa” is a Ghanaian delicacy prepared with corn flour, and that is what my 2017 submission would have been. “Apapransa” is best enjoyed when it is made to be pregnant with chops of salted fish and any other fish deemed necessary and garnished with palm oil. The delicacy is not too appetizing or attractive at the mere sight of it but, the moment you begin to take bites of it and you gently continue to masticate it, you will definitely end up grabbing the chops of fish hidden in it. This immediately gives you a different and even more delicious taste.  

When you first read my 2017 haiku submission at a glance, you may just be tempted to think of it as a mere construction of words in a sentence. Much meaning may not be seen it. But if you take your time and carefully read through it, you will end up getting the deeper messages and lessons embedded in it. Then, you will appreciate my haiku the more.

Let my haiku speak to your mind, soul, spirit and your life! 

Fred Kweku Forson Ghana, is a foridable talent. We at Babishai, congratulate him again. The winners will  be announced at the #Babishai2017 Poetry Festival dinner on Sunday 6 August at Humura Resort, Kitante Close. Cards are on sale at 40,000/- Call +256 703147862  The full festival programme is here.

http://babishainiwe.com/2017/07/17/babishai2017-poetry-festival-programme/

The full winning haikus are here:

http://babishainiwe.com/2017/07/19/babishai-haiku-2017-shortlist/

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