By: Esther Gyamaah Yeboah
Esther Gyamaah Yeboah is a poet, spoken word artist and a writer of young adult fiction. She believes that every story is worth telling and uses every opportunity to present a true narrative of being African. Her poems cover lived experiences, emotions and womanhood.
Ah to walk under the moonlit skies
To wear my short Adinkra print skirt
To feel the dust beneath my feet
The fresh water when I go for a dip in the stream
To call home home,
not just a village on
Someone's Google Maps,
Hidden,
lush,
cheerful,
my home
To join my friends sing and dance till we are bathed in sweat
To drink my father's sweet palm wine
And consume mother's smoked fish
To wear that beautiful beads grandma got me for becoming a woman
To say wotiri nkwa to Maame Adwoa's new baby
This is how I define freedom
In my singing of ancient powerful songs I caught from grandmama
To pound the yam for fufu and gather bowls all around me
To watch with pride as my king dances at the durbar
Freedom is participation not observant eyes
Freedom is speech in my own dialect
Freedom is telling mama my big dreams
Because I,
I Akua Gyamaah dreamt it...
Without the white man and his television
Freedom is my charcoal on my teeth and cowries in my hair
Oh Freedom is family meetings where we end the night with Ananse sem sese
Freedom is me and you and our beautiful black skin
Freedom is pride in our history, the backstories,
The blooming love under the trees
The afternoon Paa Yaw caught a hen
The day we saw a ghost on our way home
Freedom is everything that is now just memories
Freedom is the one I miss the most
