Mamle Kabu
In 2009, Mamle Kabu is the second Ghanaian to be a finalist for one of Africa's most important literary prizes, the Caine Prize. She is a writer of Ghanaian and German descent, was born and raised in Ghana and spent ten years in the United Kingdom during which she studied at Cambridge University. She returned to Ghana in 1992 where she has since been resident, and in addition to writing fiction she does research consultancy in development issues. In 2009 she was nominated for the Caine Prize for her short story “The End of Skill” published in Dreams, Miracles and Jazz: New Adventures in African Writing, edited by Helon Habila and Kadija Sesay, Picador Africa, 2008. Other shorts stories by her are “Human Mathematics,” published in Mixed: An anthology of Short Fiction on the Multi-racial Experience edited by Chandra Prasad, W.W. Norton 2006; and “Story of Faith” in ‘African Women Writing Resistance: Contemporary Voices’ edited by Jennifer Browdy de Hernandez, University of Wisconsin Press, 2010.
The poem “Orange Juice” is one of the many poems she has written about Ghana and Africa. It appears in print for the first time on this blog.
Orange Juice
My dying wish?
Orange juice
From oranges that are yellow
Not orange,
Oranges from the forests of Ghana
Grown wild in cool shade
And careless beauty
Why orange juice?
Because it’s the colour of the sun
And tastes like life,
And even better things
that have no name
But can be drunk
Oranges loaded onto mammy trucks
Piled high by the roadside
Hawked with peel neatly shaved
Sucked dry, turned inside out
For the last drops
Of trapped sunlight
posing as juice
That’s what I want
That dying day,
The sun distilled
Light as liquid
A mouthful of life
No, even better things
That can’t be named
But can be drunk
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Thanks a lot for posting this poem. In some ways it echoes some of the sentiments in Grace Nichols' poem, "Like a beacon" which uses food to express longing. Actually I have read several of Mamle Kabu's short stories, and really like them. She also reads well too.
ReplyDeleteLove this poem...thanks for posting it, Laban. I love the simplicity of the request, the crispness of the language...."the last drops of trapped sunlight." Really stunnning. I look forward to reading more of her work.
ReplyDeleteThis work is great, especially for the way d poet weaves deep meaning into even the simplest of words.
ReplyDeleteThe imagery in the penultimate stanza is stunning, a treat for those of us growing up in middle or low class homes. It climaxes in the expression '...trapped sunlight posing as juice'. Unmitigated beauty.