Onomatopoeia Ghanaiansis: A textual analysis

This poem, “Onomatopoeia Ghanaiansis,” is a 37-line free verse written by Isaac Ato Mensah, an independent scholar and journalist.

In the first six lines, the poet introduces some African foods.

The poet uses the onomatopoeia “Bumpety bump” probably as a reference to the sound of a war drum.

The literary device of Repetition is also employed almost throughout the whole poem. The poem has much existential relevance as the drums of Mother’s Day fade out and Father’s Day draws nigh.

Let’s now enjoy the poem and follow it with the textual analysis.

Bumpety bump Apapransa
Bumpety bump Dawadawa
Bumpety bump Kakadeamaa
Bumpety bump kokonte
Bumpety bump Tuozaafi
Bumpety bump African foods
Bumpety bump African tongue
When in pain I say Agyeeeiii
So that my father can always be there
It can never be ouch
That’s why your father is gone
When I’m surprised I say Shieee
When I’m disappointed I say oooh
When I knock I say kokooko
It is the sound I hear in my mind
It is the sound I feel in my soul
It is the sound I think and feel
My name is Kwasi but never Kci
You may spell it Kwashi but never Quarshie
My national capital is Nkran
So where from the Accra
When I’m sorry I say Kose
But never sorry
Me nsor enko hen
And I hit my right hand in my left hand
Me paw’ kyew, kyew, kyew, kyew
But never strike my breast;
For that is pride
If you don’t accept sorry for my debt
I don’t call for death
By jumping on the rails
For a relative can work in my stead
It is never slavery
It is a group thing
We say tsooboi yei, tsooboi yei, tsooboi yei
Let’s stop the propaganda
And get a proper Ghana

Now onto the analysis.

Our indigenous culture of honouring our ancestors is given a place of prominence.

The poet seeks to infer that the reason why Ghanaians say “Agyeeeiii” is because they need their father's help.

In the struggle for emancipation of the African people, many men have suffered and died.

Katharina Buchholz, referencing the US Bureau of Justice Statistics in an article published on April 19, 2023, wrote that “1807 black males” are in US prisons as compared to “327 white males.”

This means that there are six times more black males than white males in US prisons per one hundred thousand residents.

Hence, the poem is a call for a new pan-African vehicle that can crash into the current crisis that is crumbling in Negritude.

Reading the poem also invokes the imagery of “a voice crying in the wilderness” to help end the discrimination meted out against Africans and people of African descent. Regardless, fatherhood is in crisis, no matter the ethnicity.

In 2022, there were 87,784 female prisoners in US federal or state correctional facilities compared to 1,142,359 males, according to Veera Korhonen in an article published on December 12, 2023, on Statista.com.

The poem ends with the battle cry “Tsooboi yei," calling for an end to the "propaganda,” which is killing our own time-honoured traditions.

In the end, the poet advocates for “a proper Ghana”.

On the flip side, the poet seems to give males carte blanche to abandon their children and puts the blame on the children for failing to call for their fathers "Agyeeeiii.”

Those who abandon their children for whatever reason needn’t hear “Agyeeeiii” before coming to their rescue.

In much the same way, those carrying out the oppression needn’t hear complaints
before they stop causing pain to children.

All told, we Africans, in the spirit of Negritude and Pan-Africanism popularised by the likes of Leopold Senghor and Kwame Nkrumah, must now rise up in solidarity, affirming the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of all men.

The poem is culled from the book titled: “15 Poems and their meanings for you to
become a poet in 15 days”.