POEM: FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION

By Kwesi Atta Sakyi



Excruciating searing excision,
Often done without clinical precision,
Whole or partial removal
Of labia minor or labia major,
A decadent cultural baggage in the 21st century,
Needs to be relegated into limbo
Don’t stand akimbo
In the fight against this horrendous practice
What a trauma the girls are subjected to!
Sometimes bleeding to death,
Why are they treated like branded cattle?
Or like domestic animals which are castrated?

Freudian psychoanalysis laments loss of male penises
In the weaker and fairer sex,
Is that a reason for excision of internal delicate organs?
Blatant blue murder of mothers and daughters

I presume a clever male design
To consign the women behind the scenes
Or an attempt to sober them up
And deny them of any sensual pleasures,
Up in arms, you women
Deal a deadly blow to
This anachronistic cultural edifice
Borrow from female fighters of old,
Likes of Lysistrata, Boadicea, Joan of Arc,
Yaa Asantewaa, Queen Amina and Rosa Parks
You’ve got what it takes to cause the sparks

(Taken from the book Mosi O Tunya Sounds 2009 by the Author)