Obeah Man

By Roi Guanapo Ankhkara Kwabena

i wish i was an obeah man
better than papa niza or even shadow
to light a big mauve candle and throw light on
evils throughout the ‘global village’

i wish i was a obeah man to write the wrongs
but not for a noble prize, only to feed
the hungry children an’ poor people...

i wish i was a obeah man to enable sight through the lies
an’ chase away the flies of broken promises

i wish i was a obeah man
to decide an end to austerity measures
establish a ‘real’ world order
destroying racism..and political debauchery

i wish i was a obeah man
an’ run foreign conglomerates
who exact profits
in a new wave of deception....

i wish i was a obeah man
to obliterate nepotism
while at the same time licking up drug barons
who pose as legitimate merchants

i wish i was an obeah man
to manifest and distribute spirit blows
as deals are secretly made
to devour the wealth of our people...

i wish i was an obeah man
to manifest de
over due national theatre

i wish i was an obeah man
and stabilize the T&T dollar
...depose the plantocracy
to empower the landless...

i wish i was an obeah man
an’ stop police brutality

i wish i was an obeah man
an wok some true- true obeah

but it is difficult to be
an obeah practitioner
when even the patrons are fakes
while the deserving are chased
away by bureaucracy....

as some very important people
seek me out
in the dead of night.....

© Copyright 1997 – Roi Kwabena
Reprinted with kind permission of the author.

Source: A job for the hangman /by Roi Kwabena. Port of Spain;Birmingham: Raka Publications, 1997.
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