Poem: Anthills

It was Homowo last weekend so I figured I would (belatedly) put this up. I was inspired by how alive Accra was during the African Cup and, reading up again on its history, I was reminded that the name 'Accra' is a bastardization of 'Nkran' ('ants').

Apologies in advance if my poetry sucks:

Anthills
They started - a small group
And grew
Hooting down Hunger
Until it fell sideways at their feet and cracked
Open the earth

Ants emerged in thousands
An angry, unsettled swarm
Gathering a granule each
With which they slowly built
The structures after which
I was named

A name that fell
From the lips of Strangers
Where it remained
Crushed below
The weight of six sets of foreign footsteps

I tried
For 81 years I tried
I lead, the formenting in my belly
So ablaze it could not be contained and spilled
Into the streets

An idea at once old and youthful
Our destiny…
Ours.
I birthed a revolution
But would miscarry three more

Fifty years on
The same invaders come with my children
To visit and together watch
Eagles fall and stars rise
As three colours flutter over our sky

Our sky.