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OF MY PIECE FART
Foreword by Michael Rehling
Senryu poems by
Adjei Agyei-Baah
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– i –
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– ii –
Piece of my Fart
╠ ╣
Adjei Agyei-Baah
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– iii –
Piece of My Fart© 2018 Adjei Agyei-BaahTranslation © 2018 Adjei Agyei-BaahIntroduction © 2018, Michael RehlingCover Design: Augustine TettehCover Image: David BowmanWebsite: http://davebowmanphotography-pod.com/
ISBN 978-9988-2-8132-8
Mamba Africa PressP.O. Box KJ703Kumasi, AshantiGhana, West Africa
www.mambaafricapress.com
first printing
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– iv –
To Bernard Clemmens, the longest fart record holder in the Guinness
Book of Records as at 2018
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– v –
A Guide to the PronunciAtion of twi
/aa/ as in arm /ae/ as in aye /ɔ/ as in caught /ɔɔ/ as in call /ee/ as in page /ei/ as in fray /ea/ as in pediatrics /eɛ/ as in fear /ɛ/ as in step /ɛɛ/ as in herb /ɛe/ as in fed /hw/ as in wheel /hy/ as in shed /io/ as in kiosk /ia/ as in caveat /ie/ as in fierce /oa/ as in koala /oɔ/ as in plod /oo/ as in toll /kw/ as in quality /ky/ as in chief /gy/ as in gym /nw/ as in nude /ny/ as in nil /tw/ as in tweed /ua/ as in Tuareg /ue/ as in Puerto Rico/uo/ as in buoy
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– vi –
foreword
Within the pages of this slim volume is an olfactory surprise for the reader. It is in no way hidden and these pungent poems slip from page to page easily. Adjei Agyei-Baah is a poet of supreme confidence no matter if he is composing poems of flowers, birds, and animals, or the melodious and odoriferous nature of humans making wind. In short, this book is a collection of poetic brain farts by someone who claims to be a master at passing gas. I have to say that while reading it I did take an occasion or two to salute his work with my own contributions using the ‘form’ in question.
Seriously now, Adjei has a wonderful way of making the ordinary become extraordinarily good poetry, and fun to read. I strongly recommend that you sit down to read this book after having eaten a big bowl of beans! After all, haiku and senryu are all about ‘linking and shifting’. — Michael Rehling Editor, Failed Haiku Journal
August 2018
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– 1 –
elevator –meeting me withsomeone’s fart
ahweaade obi tá
hyia me kwan
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– 2 –
staff meetinga quick dissolution
from a fart
atikyafoɔ nhyiamuɛtá de nhyiamu ba awieɛ
prɛko pɛ
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– 3 –
noisy town walkhow comfortable
my fart comes out unheard
kurom nanteɛahotɔ a menya sɛobiara nte me tá
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– 4 –
slowing my walkthis fart which had taken
an explosive stance
ɔreboto me nanteɛɛtá a ɔremma me kwan
nka no nhyɛ
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– 5 –
perfect trade –your fart
and my snore
dwadie a asisie nnimwo tá
ne me nkrɔmotuo
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– 6 –
school memories –all the farts concealedby shifting my chair
sukuu nkaesɛm bimframabɔne a mede sieeɛ wɔ
m’akonnwa twetwee mu
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– 7 –
public toilet –masking my fart
with the closet flush
agyananbeamede tiefi nsuo ne denden
sie me tá
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– 8 –
waking to a boomfrom the sleeping mat-
my head on sibling’s butt
ɛtuo to wɔ kɛtɛ so-mebɔ pitiri hunu sɛ
me tiri da me nua to ho
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– 9 –
freeing myself at lastfrom my fart –
elevator door opens
ne koraa megye meho firi me tá mu –
ahweaa pono bue
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– 10 –
amid passengers’ complainof stench from a pig farm
I let go of my fart!
akwantufoɔ rekwanwɔ panpan a efiri mmoayɛnbea reba no
mede me tá di afra
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– 11 –
still night –my neighbor’s fart hushes
a cat’s cry
anadwo dasuomofipamfo tá de ka
okra ano tum
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– 12 –
classroom window seatsandwiched between
fart and breeze
sukuu mpoma ano tenaɛtá ne mframa pakyɛ me hwene fa
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– 13 –
speechless –the unheard fart of my guest
after dinner
metɔremum –me hɔhoɔ didi wie
gya me tá wɔ akyire
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– 14 –
well site –bringing up the water
with a fart
abura ho –meretwe nsuo no
na tá di akyire
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– 15 –
storytelling by the firesidelaughing behindsomeone’s fart
egyaho anansesɛmtoɔyɛsere sie wɔ
obi mframa bɔne akyi
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– 16 –
family dinnersearching each other’s eyes
for the farter
abusua nhyiamu adidieobiara hwɛ ne yɔnko aniase
pɛ táfoɔ
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– 17 –
confessional box –leaving behind
a piece of my fart
bɔneka adakamegya ɛtá kakra
wɔ m’akyi
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– 18 –
Harmattan breezewondering how far
my fart had journeyed
hamatan mframamedwene kwansin a
ɛde me tá atwa
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– 19 –
returning my fart into my stomach –
meeting the girl I love
merehyia abaayiwa a medo nomesane dane me tá
de ma meyafunu
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– 20 –
my fart –even the catwalks away
me tá –agyinamoa no mpo
firi adi hɔ
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– 21 –
hard to complain –the holes underneath
his panty
ne ka yɛ kanantokua a abuebue
wɔne pieto ase
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– 22 –
pulpit –the heaviness of my guilt
behind my fart
homedame tirim aboa bua me fɔ
wɔ me tá akyi
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– 23 –
father’s knock –knowing whereto leave my fart
agya kotosie –mehunu beaɛ a
ɛsɛsɛ meyi mframa
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– 24 –
cool airtight busthen someone
let go …
akwantu tenten wɔ baase nwununwunu mu –obi sɛe mframa no mpofirim
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– 25 –
friends knocking at my doorI put on the hall fanto spread out my fart
ahohoɔ rebamesɔ dan mu bɔnframa
de hwete me tá
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– 26 –
summer lust –her fart
wouldn’t stop me
ehuhuroberɛ akɔnnɔ bɔne –ne tá mpo
rengyina me
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– 27 –
AcknowledGement
Recognition is due the editors and publishers of the following journals and book in which three of the poems in this collection first appeared: Failed Haiku, Prune Juice Journal, AFRIKU (Red Moon Press, 2016).
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Mamba Africa Press
Adjei is a language lecturer, translator, editor and
presently a PhD candidate at University of
Waikato, New Zealand. He is the co-founder of
Africa Haiku Network, Poetry Foundation and the
Mamba Journal, Africa's first international haiku
journal. Adjei is a worldwide anthologized poet and
winner of several international awards. His maiden
haiku collection Afriku published by Red Moon Press,
2016, was commended last year at The 1st Asian Literature Festival held
in Gwangju, 2017, by Africa's first Nobel Prize Literature laureate,
Professor Wole Soyinka. He is the author two other haiku/senryu books:
Afriku (Red Moon Press, 2016), and Ghana-21 Haiku (Mamba Africa Press,
2018) and look forward to publish his third haiku book Tales of the Kites
in 2019.
In the tradition of Kobayashi Issa, Masaoka Shiki and countless other
celebrated senryu poets throughout the centuries, Adjei Agyei-Baah
presents herein a fine collection of senryu dedicated to the humble fart –
and a fine collection it is! As an editor, I wouldn't dream of cutting one of
these poems from the book. Indeed, the very thought of letting one fly fills
me with dread. I know Agyei-Baah to be a humble man; one who is not
prone to tooting his horn in public, so I'll say it for him; when the history of
modern senryu is written, Piece of My Fart is destined to be recognized as a
major literary achievement in the anals of our time!
—Steve Hodge
Editor of Prune Juice Journal
9 789988 281328
978-9988-2-8132-8