Dog Eat Dog – Two Sides Of The Same Coin. A Poem That Makes You Think.

Poetry can be beautiful and thought-provoking. I have the pleasure of sharing with you a poem that does both. A student at heart, Amma Birago enables a passion for writing by regularly dabbling in research and conversation-based learning. When Amma shared her poem with me, I felt it was a timely topic considering the upcoming elections in Ghana and other parts of the world. It speaks to the continued frustration people experience within a “democracy” by never seeing the change they voted for.

Let me know what you think.

Summary:
The prevailing converse relations between ruling classes and the ruled in the politics and governance dynamics of contemporary African and other developing countries is subtly addressed in Amma Birago’s “Dog Eat Dog – Two sides of the Same Coin”. It is a case of who the cap fits.

The Poem:

dog eat dog – two sides of the same coin

to not waste your vote is the preserve, the pledge, and anthem of the dispossessed

to not waste your vote is about the culture and attitude of the benched team and its mercenaries and fans after eight insufferable years of living as refugees in one’s own nation, often third, developing and brain-drained

to not waste your vote is therefore an exhortation, a sloganeering, designed to urge a lazy bet on the nonincumbent after eight years of abysmal performance of the incumbent

to not waste your vote is, therefore, to insist on useless self-esteem stemming from the very often accurate and therefore dirt cheap forecasting of the massive win of the incoming

to not waste your vote is then the safeguarding of entitlement to the leftover of your party after business as usual by the first level of select family and friends, the next level of mercenaries, foot soldiers and servants, and the last level of fans

to not waste your vote is then the marching song of the lowest rungs when they are about to arrive on the scene and long after filled to the brim the doggy bags have disappeared, and also the floors have been swept clean of pay dirt

to not waste your vote is the dog eat dog culture of being content, even excited, to have proven to yourself and other close-minded people that like a well trained dog you can pick up the scent of hope six years after the last feast, sixty plus years after the first

written by
Amma Birago
September 2024

(Cover art by Saatchi Art)