2 Poems by Jacob Kobina Ayiah Mensah

Geyser

Mostly sunny in the interior,
I give the offer a lot of thought.
Though I don’t get the riddle.
The cactus wounds smell & cackle,
the whole cacophonies & caboodle
remain inside the gig of ghoul.
I remember such a cache
from the beginning with cack,
where the celestial space became fallout.
She wipes the steam off the mirrors
& we’re exposed through our contents.


Ragged

in ser(end)i(pit)y
her           cy(no)(sure)
reck(on)ing

pare this parsley
as motif

                re(main)s
out of puff
in the en(trance)


Bionote

Jacob Kobina Ayiah Mensah is a multilingual poet, multidisciplinary artist, algebraist, journalist and wanderer. He also edits literary and journalistic journals, including Pkankmaton, a journal of haiku and related poetry, The Rough Sheet Tanka Journal, Winneba Verse, Southeast Asia Literature Journal, Seoul Poetry Quarterly, etc. He is the author of more than 19 poetry book publications, including Witness and a full-length poetry collection in Spanish, agua y color, is forthcoming from Valparaiso Poetry Press. His individual pieces have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including JMWW, Constellations, Trampoline, 1-70 Review, Beautiful Cadaver Project Pittsburgh, The Meadow, Beyond Words Literary Magazine, Rigorous, The Decadent Review, Folk Magazine, Wards Lit Magazine, Cardinal Sins, zines + things, Juked, Juke Joint Magazine, The William and Mary Review, Helen Literary Magazine, In Parentheses, Genre: Urban Arts, Roanoke Review, filling Station, Hawk & Whippoorwill, The Indianapolis Review, The Sandy River Review, Blackbox Manifold, Cordite Poetry Review, Amethys Review, Rogue Agent, Whimperbang, Emerys Journal, Night Music Journal, Cantos: A literary and Arts Journal, Abstract: Contemporary Expressions, Thirty West Publishing House, Aaduna, Terror House Magazine, Ygdrasil: A Journal of the Poetic Arts, Castabout Art & Literature, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades, Hooligan Magazine, Unlikely Stories Mark V, Otoliths, Oddball Magazine, UTSANGA, Pithead Chapel, Wingless Dreamer, Meat for Tea, Fireflies’ Light: A Magazine of Short Poems and others. In 2021, his poem was nominated for Best of Net. His works in abstract mathematics include Arthur Algebras, Haiku Algebra, c-Algebra, Ỽ-Functions, Nortan Group, and Epic Ring. He divides his life among places, including Ghana, Spain, USA, Colombia, and Southeast Asia countries (especially Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam).