INTERVIEW: A GOOD POEM IS ENTERTAINING, LAZED WITH MORALS

Editor’s note: Poetry is a genre of literature that encodes messages through the condensed language. Through its defamiliarised way of expressing the message, the tone of the poem, many times, appeals to different senses, making it to be musical and as it is injecting morals in the veil of the readers. A good poet is a model. This is an interview conducted by Poets from our Savannah, a Ghanaian WhatpsApp group, promoting poetry and young poets. The guest was Ms. CECILIA AMOAFOWAA SEFA and the host, Poetess Zulfaw, Poet Gbepo. Ms Cecilia Sefa is also known as Mom Cee.

Poet Gbepo: On behalf of the entire house, I will like to welcome our mother, mama Cecilia to the interviewee seat!

Mom Cee : Thanks.

Poet Gbepo:  Please, could you introduce yourself to the house?

Mom Cee: I am Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia, (I love for my name to be in this order against the norm because of my love for my Ghanaian names, mostly abbreviating the last) I am a teacher, (Tamale Senior High School) writer, blogger (www.amoafowaa.wordpress.com and the president of the Autism Help Foundation. I have two publications to my credit: Poetry Excursion on an African Mind (which was selected for the study of Female Writers of Africa at KNUST in the 2015/2016 academic year) and Secondary Rythms,  all on Amazon. My poem "Ebola Scare" was featured alongside other writers in Africa in the Kampala Anthology Boda Boda Anthem in 2015 in Uganda. I love reading and being by myself, mostly, although I am a sociable person.

Poet Gbepo: wow! Please is poetry or authorship in general a profession or a mere ejaculation of one's emotions?

Mom Cee: Well, although poetry is connected to emotions, it cannot be deemed 'mere' ejaculations of feelings. It should be a great profession (of course most Ghanaians in particular do not acknowledge it that much) but poetry is more than that. Like all genres of writing,  it helps relieve emotions, helps to step into shoes of other characters,  helps admonish with great morals, helps entertain, helps meditate, helps carve good deeds on stones of words and many more. I don't know about others, but for me, poetry is the room with drains of tensions, which leave hearts who visit as clean as days they were born. That should be more than a profession.

Poetess Zulfaw: Wow! Is there any difference between an author and a writer? Tell us more.

Mom Cee: A writer writes books or articles to be published. An author is a writer or a creator of success in a realm. Of course you know writing cuts across from agriculture to sports, from anthropology to philosophy.

Poetess Zulfaw: Is every writer a poet and why?

Mom Cee: What a question to ask. Every poet is a writer but every writer cannot be a poet. Writers vary. Prose writers, drama writers, article writers, themes cut across vocations as I early on intimated.

Poetess Zulfaw: Please tell us more!

Mom Cee: There are writers who write stories. They are prose writers. There are writers who write plays or dramas, to be performed on stages, they are playwrights, and there are journalists who write several articles. Even with journalism, there are agricultural journalists, literary journalists, environmental journalists etc.

Poetess Zulfaw: Great. What does it take for one to become a writer or an author?

Mom Cee: I believe every human on earth can be a writer. So long as you live, you use all your five senses, battle emotions, celebrate successes, you can be a writer if you acquire the storytelling skills. All it takes, mostly, is for people to be able to identify with your emotions, or be informed or be believed.

Poetess Zulfaw: wow! So please what makes you different from other writers and poets?

Mom Cee: Well, I don't compare myself to other writers and poets. I believe I am unique in my ways. Poetry or writing, to me, is not a means of acquiring fame (gradual fame is just a form of acceptance), it is a company which has proved itself worthy of friendship. So I write for pleasure in the hope that someone somewhere would identify and feel motivated, someone somewhere would read and feel consoled, someone somewhere would read and get the needed laugh, someone somewhere would read each day looking forward to the next, someone would read and see the other side of other living beings. So those who know me know I write poetry daily, although I write other genres. There has been nothing like a writer's blog since I started writing. Unfortunate that I was too ashamed to show them to anyone until secondary school so many were flushed down "atonkos".

Poetess Zulfaw: Wonderful. How often do you write?

Mom Cee: I write every day. At least one poem a day.  At most 15. Days I don't write poetry, I am working on prose or scripts.

Mom Cee: A good poem to me, is entertaining,  has a moral, is well crafted, helps people think and takes people on picture or video journeys when reading in understanding.

Poetess Zulfaw: You are a shining star Mum C. Please do you think enough recognition has been given to the poetry industry? Do we even have an industry?

Mom Cee: There is a writers' industry which encompasses all genres of writing. We have the Ghana Association of Writers. There is also the Ghana Poets, Ehalakasa etc... Poetry is better now, in terms of attention. It is just too many little groups, when we all come under a national umbrella like GAW, I think we can move forward.

Poetess Zulfaw:  Is there plagiarism in poetry?

Mom Cee:  Of course. There is nothing like a fresh idea because even God, according to the Bible created from motivation in Genesis. You can be inspired by  works of others but you need your own vocabulary,  style etc. Some people can just take other people's works and put their names beneath, I say that is a curse to creativity and a shame. But there are 'Mensahs' in every home so, yes, poetry can be plagiarized.

Poetess Zulfaw: wow.. I see. How can one get literary techniques such as imagery, metaphor and symbolism?

Mom Cee: Writing is reality plus imagination. Reading gets you all the tools you need, practising gets you growth. That is all I can say here.

Poetess Zulfaw: Great answer! Please how is your social life like, as an author?

Mom Cee: Socially, good. Through GAW and my first publication,  I have met very notable people in the industry and we are in touch. From Nana Asaase to Oswald Okaitei to Chieff Moomen to even Honourables who were writers before I could learn like Mr. Kwasi Gyan-Aoenteng, Hon. Abla Dzifa Gomashie,  Dr. Gheysika Agambila etc.
I am well socialized in the industry. But I have not developed my performances because of time so I live in the quiet. Well, I do love it somehow.

Poetess Zulfaw: You're a real trooper! On what issues do you write and why?

Mom Cee: I write on everything that catches my fancy because writing is all which touch our senses. And everything that serve us, everything we serve, everything we abhor and fear, everything we love, everything we fail to recognise,  deserve their ink in this journey of life.

Poetess Zulfaw: You are truly inspiring!! Mum C. You published some of your works, have you had drumbeats of criticism? If yes, by who, when, where and why?

Mom Cee: Well, not much criticism. I published in March 2014, by September,  my former lecturer confirmed its selection for the same course I offered in 2009. I think lack of criticism does not mean all good. Good critics in the industry are not given the appropriate publicity so we don't hear much. But I have only had good reviews.

Poetess Zulfaw: You are a literary critic, do you apply any critiquing theory? Which theory is that?

Mom Cee: My only theory in critiquing is truth. I am mostly candid to a fault in criticising works so unless my opinion is sought, I keep them to myself. Telling it as it is with all the sarcasms help shape writers but most weak ones will fall through the colander because of hurts. So only few people know I am a critic, and a "ruthless one at that"

Poetess Zulfaw: Please what do you look out for when you are doing critique?

Mom Cee: I dig first to find morals and its relevance to target audience. Then I look out for semantics, which actually comes first, meaning, then the craft. Of course, then grammatical errors and sometimes its entertainment.

Poetess Zulfaw : What do you look out for when you are editing someone's prose or poem?

Mom Cee: I don't go the editing way unless it is necessary. But I think language, point of view, plot, themes, settings and understanding should go for prose. I use same methods as critiquing when it comes to poetry.

Poetess Zulfaw: Two thumbs up! If you are given students to teach on how to write prose or poem, what area will you teach them and why?

Mom Cee: I think I would nurture them to bring out the best in them. It could be anything, any genre, the most important thing is that it makes sense.

Poetess Zulfaw: Do you have your favourite poets and writers and why them?

Mom Cee: Every good writer catches my fancy. Of course there are the Peggy Oppongs, Ama Ata Aidoos, Ama Darkos, Atukwei Okais etc.

Poetess Zulfaw: Why them

Mom Cee: As I said, they have exciting works and every work with that feature is worthy of my attention.

Poetess Zulfaw: I'm impressed! Have you won awards in the literary world of work? Tell us more

Mom Cee: Well, apart from being honoured by the ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, through a citation, nothing else.

Poetess Zulfaw: wow. Congratulations. Mum C, please let us get into your skin!!!
Are you married?

Mom Cee: No

Poetess Zulfaw: surprising. You are a versatile poet, do you entertain your house hold with your muse through your African accent? How do you do it?

Mom Cee: African accent? That was unexpected.  I speak my native language at home and I love it. What is more, many did not know I could speak English in my area until I grew up. Akan is sweet on my tongue. I don't burden them with my art. I love being by myself mostly although I am sociable.

Poetess Zulfaw: lovely. What are your last words for the house?

Mom Cee: There are golden opportunities at the dock of the hell fires of hard work. Burn through its routes of critcism, more reading,  self assessment to reach that heaven or go back to your board to work out another vocational path.

Poetess Zulfaw: Wow!! Very resourceful! To our valved followers please any questions for our beloved mother

Mom Cee: I am not too old. An elder sister will do.

Poetess Zulfaw: Great.

© Dipantiche Naporoo Shitobu, 2016

   Poets from our Savannah, Ghana