Fred Kweku Forson from Ghana, was shortlisted for the 2017 Babishai Haiku contest, inspired by one of last year;s winners, Kwaku Feni Adow, also from Ghana.
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| Fred Kweku Forson (Courtesy photo) |
What drew you to enter for the competition?
I knew nothing
about haiku as a type of poetry until one day on Facebook I read that a
Ghanaian, Kwaku Feni Adow had won a haiku contest. I became curious and began
to search for the meaning of haiku and all that it entails. After reading a
little about it online and a lot more of the haiku others have written
especially from the Mamba, I knew I could also be a haiku poet.
The opportunity
then presented itself when I read on Facebook of a call to submission of haiku
to the 2017 edition of the Babishai Niwe Poetry Foundation haiku contest. I
didn’t waste time but began to pen some images/scenes and sounds down. I then
submitted the first three haiku I ever tried my hands on and, hooray, it’s been
shortlisted.
Do you have a particular personal story with haikus?
I’ve been
writing poems especially rhymes at my leisure times and whenever I wrote one, I
would ask my younger brother to proofread for me. I really do worry him with
that. He thinks I’m very good at the poems I write but frustrated since
I’m not gaining anything from it. He feels I’m wasting that talent. Because of
this, he would sometimes refuse to proofread my poems.
When I wrote the
shortlisted haiku, I read it to him and asked him whether he finds any sense in
it but he asked me to leave him alone and that he has better things to think
about. I didn’t tell him I was submitting it for a contest though. So when he
read of my haiku having been shortlisted in a contest, he came back from work
that evening and reminded me of how he paid no attention to me when I asked him
to ponder on the shortlisted haiku for me. We all laughed over it because he
was so excited for my haiku having been shortlisted.
What do you
feel towards the shortlist in general?
After going through the shortlist, I was wowed by the exhibition of great African talents in haiku. It feels so intriguing to read such images and sounds briefly penned down by fellow Africans who respectively see and hear far beyond those images and sounds.
What motivation do poets need to keep writing, in this ridiculously
competitive world that vies for their attention?
I believe the
greatest motivation of every poet is from within himself, the moment you begin
to see and feel something within you, and you just can’t help it but to artistically
express it in writing.
But one big
external motivation of every poet, I believe, is knowing that his poems have a
wider audience across the world and people actually find inspiration in his
poems. Therefore, poets and their poems must be given the necessary exposure
through competitions and features in journals like what Babishai Niwe Poetry
Foundation and the Africa Haiku Network have respectively started doing, etc.
If your 2017 submission was food, what would it be?
“Apapransa” is a
Ghanaian delicacy prepared with corn flour, and that is what my 2017 submission
would have been. “Apapransa” is best enjoyed when it is made to be pregnant
with chops of salted fish and any other fish deemed necessary and garnished
with palm oil. The delicacy is not too appetizing or attractive at the mere
sight of it but, the moment you begin to take bites of it and you gently
continue to masticate it, you will definitely end up grabbing the chops of fish
hidden in it. This immediately gives you a different and even more delicious
taste.
When you first
read my 2017 haiku submission at a glance, you may just be tempted to think of
it as a mere construction of words in a sentence. Much meaning may not be seen
it. But if you take your time and carefully read through it, you will end up getting
the deeper messages and lessons embedded in it. Then, you will appreciate my
haiku the more.
Let my haiku
speak to your mind, soul, spirit and your life!
Fred Kweku Forson Ghana, is a foridable talent. We at Babishai, congratulate him again. The winners will be announced at the #Babishai2017 Poetry Festival dinner on Sunday 6 August at Humura Resort, Kitante Close. Cards are on sale at 40,000/- Call +256 703147862 The full festival programme is here.
The full winning haikus are here:
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