Senator Barack Obama is on the minds of most West Africans these days. The Democratic presidential candidate’s presence reaches even into remote areas such as the Eastern Volta Region of Ghana. Like much of the third world, Ghana is wired; cellphone coverage reaches nearly everywhere, while landlines are unusual. Internet cafés are sprouting up in every community, and satellite TV and Internet connections are common. And so, information about the U.S. presidential race is readily available.... Read more

This
is a political
poem
where moose — bull and cow —
frolic
like downwardly mobile
young adults who have
abandoned
their cultural inhibitions,
acting like everyday
is Xmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan,
not considering the consequences
of spring thaw,
mud up to their bulbous knees
or
where maples shed
leaves like rapturous nudists
only to huddle
hidden all winter
under surplus blankets of snow
waiting meekly
for the sap to finally run,
sluicing toward pancakes
and Town Meeting.