The President assessed the scene
and gave a terse command.
His caddy grabbed his putter
and put it in Obama’s hand.
The breeze as not a factor
The air was hot and still.
The hole, a dozen feet away,
blocked by a small windmill.
Barrack needed this putt for par.
to help him tie the score.
Boehner got a hole in one
in the clown face just before.
Obama gave his ball a stroke-
it veered wide, an inch or two.
It’s a pity folks are watching
Or he’d lie about that too.
That he should be reduced to this;
Playing at the “Pirate’s cove.
The sequester is a right wing plot
likely dreamed up by Karl Rove.

I want to be a child again
Don’t care about politics or any stupid wars
I want to be a child again
I dont care who would first to walk on the moon
I want to be a child again
Neither Obama nor Osama would spoil my days
.. I want to be a child again
Don’t bother if my dad forgets to pay his  tax and bills
I want to be a child again
I dont have to know where Afghanistan or Syria is..
I want to be a child again..
Never need to worry about crude oil price
I want to be a child again..
No one except my mummy can enter my territory
I want to be a child again..
Could sit on daddy’s lap only wearing a nappy
I want to be a child again…
I could play in the sun all day….
don't bother whether i get so dirty
I want to be a child again
I could finish a bowl of ice-cream
without feeling so guilty..
and eat a big slice of chocolate cake
dont care whether i gain 2 kilos in a day...
i want to be a child again...
no matter how ugly or naughty
mom and dad would love me anyway.....

Have you ever heard of a woman so strong she could be David's daughter
So wise, King Solomon was surely her instructor?
Have you ever felt more joy than Noah at the sight of his doves' fig tree
Or happy as Mary was when she looked down at her blessing from above?
This is to me, my mother

Have you ever been shown love and compassion mirroring Mother Theresa's grace
Or joined with someone in pure merry and bliss as Kenyans were when the United States elected Obama?
Have you ever received endless love and support from a woman who grew up with so little?
Have you ever thought to yourself, as God blessed the people of Jerusalem with a Star, you have been blessed with one shinning bright one?
This is my mother.

Have you ever felt that there was only one person in the world who would truly be there for you at the end of the day?
Have you ever felt that God truly loves you because the possibilities of not having not only a mother, but this mother in your life are unfathomable?
Have you ever felt speechless and wordless towards the love and grace just one person has shown you?
Have you ever felt engulfed in a sea of God's gift...God's light?

You have never felt this way unless you have met my mother
God's blessings sometimes stuns us.
I believe my biggest surprise is the love He showed me by giving me someone like you.

I don't like this reality I live in
I do not like it with its "Fox News"
I do not like it with any false facts

I do not like this President Obama
I do not like his ad campaign
I dislike having my rights revoked

He does not care
here or there
I don't think he cares anywhere!

I want my rights
right here
and right now!

I do not like Obama's Change
I do not like this Uncle Sam!

I do not like the rules or ways
Look out world here I come
with diversity and wayward thinking
This is my flag
these are my new ways

If I don't like the change in the world
then I will be the change that I want to see
so let me be
Let me live
in the land that was once free
Obama can keep his change
I can provide my own

I found a bug on the sidewalk today
And I picked it up to bring to you
Because I know how much you like bugs
But as it crawled in the darkness of my intertwined fingers
I realized how much it wanted to fly
And I didn’t want to be the one to stifle that
So I opened my hands and it flew into the sky
And I realized that life isn’t meant to be lived in a cage
Because that is one messed up life
Living behind bars
Only seeing the daylight
But never feeling the burn

I remember when scraping you knees brought tears to your eyes
But now I want to scrape every bone in my body
And rise with the skyscrapers
To touch the clouds and shoot for the moon
And even though I’ve missed the bullseye,
This red cape has caught the bulls eye
And I’m no superman,
I’m just a girl looking for a average man.
My gun is cocked and loaded
But the game of russian roulette always has somebody losing
And all I can do is hope it’s not me
But hope seems to only be brought by Obama these days
And I don’t know if I want his hope
When it’s only brought for the praise
And its bought through a haze

And those kids with their bugs and scraped knees
They aren’t learning music or history or art
Because the truth is they aren’t learning anything at all
And 10 years from now, they’re going to be sitting in the mall with a baby on their hip
And an unreachable dream on the tip of their tongues
And it gets swallowed down by every glare of all the other mothers walking there.

But the truth of it is
It’s hardly their fault because
Their education was taken from them
The money their school lacked
Was shipped overseas
And given to soldiers
And I appreciate my freedoms as much as everyone else
But not when they come at the cost life
Not when innocent people are dying
Not when I know that your friend or my brother or her sister could die
I don’t want that kind of freedom
Because that’s being bought at much too high a price.

For freedom can be found elsewhere
Freedom and hope never come from governments
Or rulers, because they have us down on our knees
And the cold metal of their guns is felt on the back of our necks
And they force us to pledge allegiance
To something we don't believe in

So with my right hand over my bleeding heart.
I’m saying screw it, because I don’t want it
I turned 18 and signed up to vote
But I never check a box in my life,
Except those ones to get into college
And when I checked those, the pen felt so heavy
Because I knew they were boxes that many didn’t get to check

So here’s to the kids that have never had someone to pick them up when they fall
Here’s to the teen parents whose own parents led them astray
Here’s to the soldiers fighting in an unending war
Here’s to the kids in the ghetto who are looked down upon because of the color of their skin
You know, the ones that never had a chance to begin
Here’s to the kids that are chasing their dreams and breaking the stereotypes

Forget what they said
You are strong and you are capable
So follow your dreams
And don’t look back
Run towards your goals
And never lose track
You can be whoever you want to be

Don’t forget those times when you said you wanted to be a doctor
Or a lawyer
Or an astronaut
Don’t be swept up into the world of I cant’s and I don’t know hows
But leave that world behind,
Flying high into the sky
Be the heroes, the super-mans, the ones that bring true hope
You’re the freedom
You’re the hope
You’re the star of a black sky and a sold-out show
You’re the one that everyone wants know


And when you feel caged in,
Remember to open your hands
Let go
And find your freedom

I
Oh how it is quite strange, clowns and princes
along with me, share hits and misses
And how we work, eternities to construct
One man always stood beside me
So here is some spoken word poetry
About my Duck

All these stepping stones, its such a big climb
I gotta just put my nose to the grind

why yes my mass was shapeless, but definitely not aimless a hand full of aces, as my box of tools simply out rules those with mere jacks.
A capering clown
in sawdust mounds
  I would never be allowed
and that’s a fact

lessons  learned on ones own, yet taught by others
And I discovered
the blood that doesn’t connect us brings us closer to one another
no relation which cause the creation by which leaves me fulfilled
Last name: Banks. First Name: Bill
The reason I know skill doesn’t breed passion, passion breeds skill

Now, Though outrageous,
I must say that only the mans good values were contagious
and although the man ages,
the books cover changes,
not the pages

II
On the topic of books, lets take a look
a copy manipulate with traits
of stone written rules
That William had the jewels
to chip loose
I call him Duck
But these actions wont get him confused for a goose

A book of rules in which every one is to receive, Billy Banks believed that mine needs to interweave his own recipe

The reason I keep tricks outside of my sleeves
the reason i wasn’t deceived by the ease of being naïve
The reason my metaphors are as deep as seas

He is the reason I dare to  believe that I am the sea and life is a simple little fish swimming inside of me  which I can control just not directly
its always with me but can be caught up on hooks, tangled up in seaweed
so when is pleads, I attend to its needs
with guarantees of bachelor degrees
and although it will not come with ease the sea calms the storms breeze, clean its debris and fathom that hard work is to be worked hard but always  is always done correctly
I change the tide so the fish swims not always straight but always with strides.

When the stones hurt the feet  to be a climber
Duck is always there with a reminder

Though its deep, I reap
The benefits of being gifted everyday by the array of knowledge portrayed
In the celebration of the man on his birthday

III
So like Obama
I wanna
Make you believe “Yes I Can”
No man, No object, No figure, No wall
Stand in my way from achieving it all
And Believe is my suggestion
Cause the guaranteed truth is good to invest in

All this?
I give credit to the book Duck did edit
So let it

Be known that I stand a grown ass man,
And with these hands let me reach from my soul and pull
within me the key That unlocks the box of tools that help create eternity
and trust me
I was equipped properly
A level to keep my head on straight
A bucket, to help evenly displace life’s weight
A set of blank keys to open any of life’s gates
A chisel and a hammer, my own identity to create

A ladder to climb from the holes I dig myself into
And shovel to fill and forget no regrets and its all just bliss
Like a pig tattoo that never did exist

And finally a broken compass
Not to make me fail, but to force me to blaze my own trail

So when the stones get high and I need a break from the climb
Duck makes sure I know there is always time

IV
So I swear and you know it
And if you don’t he would love to show it
One simple push, poke or a shove
And he will have you believing he is busting out the golden gloves
Doesn’t that sound like the man we all love

The lesson taught?
backing down
means your not at the top

Forcing over stepping stones so quickly on this climb
Duck made me know to do my damage in my prime

So at seventy five,
you are still alive
And to nobody here is it a surprise
Another story of the scar
Another cigar
To smoke
Your too up to date to even be called old folk

So at seventy five
you are still alive,
and to me it sure isn’t a surprise.
And Duck I want you to know to me you will never die.

and let it be known, I refuse to use your present tools as my stepping stone
As everybody’s life path must be created on their own.
So as I refuse to use your present tools as my stepping-stone
The man that I named Duck taught me to reach the tops thrown

And I will never ever quit climbing….

A tribute to my Grandfather Duck on his 75th Birthday. A spoken word remix of a poem he taught me, that has been the motto to my life - R.I.P Bill "Duck" Banks

Look, blow the horn!
Cry, gather together!
Take refuge!
Do not delay!
Lament and wail!
For the fierce anger
Of the gods have not
Turned back from you,
Obama comes back home,

Be astonished, oh heavens,
And be horribly afraid,
Set up signposts!
For the broken calabash
Can hold no water
But a virgin blood,
Obama comes back home,

Can anyone behold
Your great plagues?
Oh Africa, my Africa,
The fruitful womb under
Fierce eternal siege,
Do not look up to the West!
And thou shall be saved,
Obama comes back home.


© PRINCE NANA ANIN-AGYEI
Email: nanaspeaks@gmail.com