I was rebuked and ridiculed
They tore my soul and body apart
I could hear the wailing of my heart
I was paralyzed in my seat by their comments
I was dumb founded
I had sinned
But never would have made it without that sin
I was in love with poetry
I drunk it every breakfast
I read it as part of my quiet time
Sleep always found me with poetry in the night
Never would have written one without sin
So I sinned and became a poet
They said I had violated copyright of a poem
They said I have stolen a poem (tears in my eyes)
They said I had brought shame to their page
Yes, that was true, I had infested them with my stolen poem
My bad,I couldn’t write one
But now write many because I sinned
They couldn’t do anything to help
I gave them no choice than to kill me
They plugged my heart out of my self
They poisoned my spirit with pills of vilifications
Angry oceans washed away my integrity
Respect and honour weaved from the past
varnished in matters of seconds
I parked my shame in my palm
I collected my tears in my heart
I bagged my ignominy
And entombed them in my bed
So I died for a month
I mourned my soul
My obituary read “POETRY KILLED HIM,GONE FOR A WHILE”
A funeral of three in my room
My disgraceful self, the mirror and the ceiling
A month of self transfiguration
A month of Surgery by Dr. God
he fixed my neck a new head
he breathed in me a new Life
Pushed a new Clifford into an old world
And handed me a pen, my poetic sword
Still I had not recovered from scars of the past
So I peeped into their world on web
I saw them happy and going
Lost in dilemma
whether will be welcomed or kicked away
She saw me spying, she ran quickly towards me
Held my online head and kissed me on the fore
She grab my scars and made me a fresh skin of today
She flowed into me and made me whole again
Come on, you welcome home, her South African eyes
Told me everything I needed to live
#Noleen Utterance Desiree Titus
He also came arms opened
Embraced me from my shy and timid steps towards him
He dug his hand into my soul and picked the spirit up
He opened the doors to his heaven and welcomed me back
The same heaven I had begrimed
He initiated me a poet and called me a bard
My Jesus online, Sir Kukogho Iruesiri Samson
Am now an Apostle of the kingdom
I
Never would have made it without sin.
POET’S PROFILE:
Oppong Clifford Benjamin is a proud son of Africa and native of the Ashanti Kingdom of Ghana. Clifford is second with his twin sister in a family of six. Had my basic education in Naraguta Grammar School, Tarkwa in the western region of Ghana and proceeded to Ghana Secondary Technical School, GSTS as it is popularly known. I studied General Science in GSTS.
Clifford is currently a Civil Engineering student in the Kumasi Polytechnic of Ghana.
I met poetry in my Junior High school. I have been reading poems online and in the library since 2005. I deeply fell in love with words when I completed Senior High school. I read poems almost every gentle hour that passes by.
A POETIC DEATH
I came across a poet in Kenya on PoemHunter whose poems fascinated me so much that I was tempted to post his poems on my Facebook page in my name.
One day, I submitted his poems for publication on WRR a public page for poets. Lo and behold, the poem was published and comments came in from all poets present. Few hours after, the legal owner of the poem surfaced from nowhere and sent a threatening warning to the admins of the page. I had stolen a poem.
The rightful owner of the poem overlooked our friendship on PoemHunter and ignored my pleas and went ahead to disgrace me. It was indeed the worst moment on my life. What really happened has been clearly stated in the poem above.
It was after this experience that I came up with my first poem ‘The Journey After WASSCE’ which didn’t attract more comments because there were so much errors here and there.
With Determination, perseverance and the support of Sir KIS, Madam Noleen and of course myself. I have written more than twenty poems now.
I have had my poems published on the UK Poetry Library, WRR, Angry Poets and recently I was interviewed by Oral Ofori on his Live TV show called the African Dream in Wallingford, Connecticut, USA.
Poetry indeed killed me, resurrected me and has made me a better Clifford.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
Poet Oppong Clifford Benjamin is a poet born to wield the pen for good. I guess he loved poetry so much that he thought it was beyond him to create one on his own.
He was vilified on WRRPoetry when the ‘stolen poem’ saga happened. I personally regret it but I am happy he bounced back like a true man. A man that admits his faults, openly, is a man indeed.
His verses, after his ‘resurrection’ have been totally awesome. He writes with the skill of a poet who has writer forever. I see him now as a voice that Ghana might need in the near future. (Amen)
I think its good we all die and rediscover ourselves at least once in our lifetime.
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- Poetry (thegalwayreview.com)
- Eopp2013: the Winners (wordsrhymesandrhythm.wordpress.com)
