Skip to main content

Poetry/Prose: Brace Yourself

When it's this quiet, you know someone or something is up to no good. 
Plotting and scheming and devising plans anew, all for the amusement of what it/they can do to you.

It's like an airplane ride. 
You get on, make yourself comfortable, listen to the safety instructions – or not - and let your thoughts wonder far beyond the height of clouds upon which you ride.

The pilot's voice comes onto the PA system; introduces him/herself as well as his co-fate holders. 
You hear it, but you don't really listen, because if anyone ever asked you anew, you'd never even be able to recollect the first letter of his/her first name.

And so you begin.
Some turbulence here, a couple of cumuli nimbus clouds there, wait is that a bird or a plane gliding next to me? No sir, simply your imagination running wild upon the pasture of sky.

Doze in, doze out, icky airplane food, yet you gobble it all down.
And the musings. Oh my, those musings.Such injustice they do to the very plane ride you're on. 
From Hong Kong to Dubai to Cape Town and the Alps. All in but a jiffy of a second.

Finally, mercifully - you never really can tell - comes the sleep.
Deep yet right on the surface, with the neck, arm and leg cramps to show what a valiant attempt you made. 

All that is fine, all that is expected, until...
...Well, the nothingness.

The split second when your eyes meet and you take in the essence of an entire being.
 The "oops" right before you find yourself kissing the ground involuntarily after breaking yet another heel of shoe.
The hour transitioning night into day when even a pin drop would sound like a million cymbals to the ear 
That eerie stillness when everything you ever knew is lain before you and then quickly taken away, and in its place...
“Go into brace position!” the air hostess announces in semi-panic, semi-control.

And there you are. Caught in a frenzy as  the entire universe rushes in. 
Wooooosh! Overload of information, of possibilities, of uncertainties untold.

Hi there, square one! Everything begins anew
From  certainty to wonder, from knowledge to speculation.

They do say the hour is darkest right before the dawn. 
Like it or not partner, you've been selected for this particular ride. 

Now, fasten your seat belt and brace yourself.

Photo 1

Popular posts from this blog

Lifestylz GH Interview: Sangu Delle

As part of Lifestylz GH’s interview series, we bring you our premier interview with Sangu Delle. Profile: Sangu Delle Sangu Delle is a senior at Harvard University. He was born and raised in Ghana, and is the youngest of five children in a bi-religious family (his father is Catholic while his mum is Muslim). He attended Christ the King Catholic School (CTK) and went on to study at the Ghana International School (GIS) until his O-Levels when he transferred to the Peddie School (a college preparatory school in NJ) on scholarship. His areas of concentration in academics are Economics and African studies, with a particular focus on development. Aspirations To be involved in the development of Ghana and Africa at large in some capacity. In the past, he was more involved in non-profit and development work, but has increasingly become active in entrepreneurial and business ventures; a testament to his belief that there should be “less foundations and more entrepreneurs” in Africa. In his own

Review of 'The Perfect Picture' & the Ghanaian Movie Industry

The Ghana-Naija movie industry saga. That's always a tough one where I'm concerned. On the one hand is my allegiance to Ghana - my motherland, homeland and basically where most of my formative years were spent. On the other hand is my undeniable connection to Nigeria - my birthland and the land of my ancestors. Even though I barely remember that much about Nigeria, I do joke about when I will "finally return to my birthland." Maybe it's this umbilical connection, that makes me slightly biased towards Nollywood when it comes to the Ghana-Naija movie saga. Truth be told, I barely paid Ghanaian movies enough mind when I was growing up. I was more likely to watch a Nigerian movie instead, and even then, I was picky. Ramsey Noah or Genevive Nnaji had to be part of the cast. Why this bias towards Naija movies? It's simple really; their acting was generally better. These days, I'm more willing to watch anything Ghana-related. For one thing, the surges of homesi

World Water Day: Water - Ghana's "Forgotten Oil"

NB: This post is part of a GhanaBlogging event to commemorate World Water Day (March 22)  -- The word floating around in Ghanaian circles these days is oil. Since 'the great find' the hopes of numerous Ghanaians have been buoyed and politicians are having quite the field day using the 'expected oil revenues' as bargaining chips for one thing or the other. I don't share in that optimism, hence my delay in writing about Ghana's "oil miracle". Instead, I'm focused on another precious resource, one that has unfortunately become more of a commodity than a right. Water. Science tells us that water and oil don't mesh together. They just don't. But if what the analysts are saying is correct, the two might have more in common than we think. At the rate things are going, water is becoming increasingly scarce. So much to the point where it's expected that water could be the next oil : a precious element in the hands of few. Unless Ghana realign