Poetry Analysis

a mango tree at the volta

there is a gorge along the volta river in a town called akosombe here is a wall built by a man made mad by the power

of a dream here is a fire made that swallowed three hundred and fifty-five thousand forests

to carry four winds into a mango tree here is a reminder the water is a dangerous place for men without steady shoes

without praying hands without faith without silver coins the water is a dangerous place for women without church hats

without a current without an emptying of their own without a pinch of salt for the rapacious forests commanding silt from the leaving of forgotten stories here is also something soft and something broken resembling a heart the soft inside-inside of the roots of the bark of

a woman who is just a woman a man who is just a man a forest inside water an offering a long drive that does not arrive

at yesterday and does not arrive at tomorrow and does not arrive at anything beyond a mango tree beside a river and the dream of a man made mad