“My poetry is deep…so deep it echoes words infinitely…so deep it drowns simple minds in tears…so deep it solves Africa’s problems in one verse…so deep it transcends racism and breaks down sexism.” This is how Kojo Baffoe, a dynamic African writer/poet and media consultant chooses to define his work in ‘The power of po’ taken from his book, ‘Voices in My Head – a collection of poetry’.

Born in Munich, Germany to a Ghanaian father and German mother, Kojo spent his formative years on the streets of Maseru, Lesotho; spent some time in Germany to get in touch with his Germanic roots; and ended up receiving his Bachelor of Commerce at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The well-travelled and vastly knowledgeable Kojo has since had varied working experiences in a number of sectors including IT, fashion and cosmetics, and publishing. However, Kojo is more famed for his amazing gift of writing, whether as a poet or a writer of lifestyle issues and popular culture. He currently lives with his lovely wife and son in Johannesburg, where he is often referred to as ‘the love poet’. Jamati.com spoke to the ever-growing and ever-innovative writer/poet and media consulting extraordinaire about his life, poetry and gift as a writer.

Jamati: You were born to a Ghanaian father and a German mother. How was growing up for you?
Growing up was interesting. My mother passed away when I was about 14 months old so I didn’t grow up with her. I grew up in Lesotho and my dad remarried and I had brothers and sisters. So the starting joke was that I was the ‘white sheep’ of the family because I was the only child of my mother. In Lesotho, people engaged with me on the basis of whom I was and who my father was. My father was a lecturer for many years and he was quite influential in that small society, so I was Frank’s son before I was anything else. Going to South Africa was a different dynamic because it is still very race driven.  South Africa may not speak about it but it is extremely race driven and some recent events made us see some of the xenophobic issues they have. For me, people always assume I am coloured, which is a specific grouping in South Africa therefore I am exposed to much more of what lies beyond the surface.

Jamati: What is your poetry usually about?
I write just about anything that I engage with, anything that sparks any kind of emotion, thought or process in it. It really is a document of my life because I have been writing since I was a child. If you took my poetry over the years, you can actually see my growth and evolution as a human being. It is a full spectrum of life from love, relationships, politics to, sometimes, being silly, though I don’t think I do that enough. We are layered as human beings, so it’s being able to explore all aspects of who you are.

Jamati: Which subjects engage you the most when you write?
I know it may sound vague but, for me, it’s the human experience. It is how we try and make sense of life, how we make sense of what we do as individuals as well as a society and humanity overall. One of my favorite poems was one that I wrote at a period where I couldn’t figure out what I was trying to do in my life. It was really about the words that captured it but also provided the inspiration and impetus to keep going. I call the poem, ‘Don’t Stop’ because you can’t stop; you can’t lie down and die. So if you can’t lie down and die then you might as well pick yourself up and keep pushing it. I had a patch when I used to write a lot of love poetry as a result, a couple of years back, I had a reputation for being the ‘love poet’ in South Africa because I also tended to perform a lot of love poetry. That was the time I was leaning into marriage and right after I got married. If there is ever a time to make sense of relationships, love, marriage and how all those things fit together, then that was my time.

Jamati: Do you read from other poets and what do you pick from their works?
Yeah, definitely! I believe that, not just as a poet but also as a writer, there are certain rules. One is live, because if you don’t live then how do you get inspiration, understanding and experience to write? The other rule is to read. I read a lot in general but I also read a lot of poetry across the board. I enjoy the works of Amiri Baraka but I grew up on everything from Soyinka to Shakespeare to more modern stuff. I love Saul Williams and I got the chance to see him perform twice. There is also an American poet/author/playwright Carl Hancock Rux who is one of my favourite. I read a lot of his writings as well as listen to his CDs. I am currently trying to read stuff from E.E Cummings who has been long gone but I do believe that if you want to evolve and develop, then you need to know what came before you.

Jamati: What limitations do you find in your space as a poet in Africa?
A poet friend of mine, Kabomo Vilakazi once said that “poetry does not lend itself to celebrity”. How I interpret it is if I write about a tragic moment in my life, that does not make me 50 Cent because I wrote it very well. The thing about writing is that we are all on our own path and I am still growing as a writer. Maybe you can sit and find holes in my style and craft of writing, my use of language, vocabulary etc. Personally, as a poet and writer, what I look to communicate is the emotion and thoughts, not necessarily the words. In terms of the development of the process, in South Africa, I believe that to be a poet is to be at the bottom of the food chain when it comes to the arts; I think it’s the same wherever you go in Africa. In the US, some people make a living off being poets. I toured the UK with Sonya Renee, the 2004 individual slam champion and I looked at her schedule; she was performing every weekend throughout the US and that’s how she makes her living. I go months without performing. I still feel like I’m an infant as a writer/poet and I feel like I am still on a journey and I will reach my destination, not necessarily somebody else’s destination.

Jamati: What medium do you publish or perform your poetry in?
I have published two books in 2005. ‘Voices in My Head’ was a collection of my works leading up to that point from university and even some high school stuff. Then I published a second one which was a small 20-page book called, ‘And they Say: Black Men don’t Write Love Poetry’. I have been working on my new book for the past two years but I haven’t been able to complete it because I haven’t been able to find the time and focus to do it. I have a lot of poetry on the internet; I have blog where at a point in time I was posting at least one poem a day. Overall, I am trying to explore as many different mediums as possible: video, dance, music. I think you can do poetry with anything; I also recently starting performing with a band.

Jamati: Do you think poetry is an art form appreciated in Africa?
I don’t think it is appreciated enough. Talking about the South African space, at some point it became fashionable; it was the flavor of the month, but that faded. I have been to poetry events that run regularly, and for a month there will be about 60 people in a small club. By end of the month, there will be 5 people because it was just something cool to go to. I don’t think literature is supported enough on the continent.

Jamati: Aside your poems, what other types of writing do you do?
I have written freelance for some years now.  My family had a newspaper in Lesotho in the 1990s and I had a column called ‘From the Mind’s Eye’, which was social commentary on anything. When I moved to South Africa, I started freelancing in various spaces, exploring popular culture and the human experience, just like my poetry. I wrote for a magazine called Y Mag in Johannesburg which was attached to Y FM, a youth radio station. I did CD reviews, interviews with musicians, etc. Later, I moved to a magazine called Blaque, a new men’s lifestyle magazine. I was editor but I was also doing a lot of the writing. So my core areas are lifestyle, the human experience and popular culture.

Jamati: You are also a media consultant, how did that start?
I spent 2 years in television producing, doing content and developing shows. I do a lot of business writing and concept development which I have done for various clients. I have worked in different industries like management consulting, furniture, IT, cosmetics, events, fashion, etc but I realized that the media is the space I’m most comfortable with. I also sincerely believe that the only way we can change the perception of Africa to the outside world is if we start controlling means of communicating who we are, and a key space is the media whether it is advertising, a TV show, newspaper or magazine. At the moment the perceptions of us are controlled by people who have their own illusions of what it means to be African. The media space feeds a certain element of me that is about wanting to make a contribution and build a legacy for when I go, and I enjoy it.  In South Africa, I consult with people editorially on websites, magazines; as well as on TV.
My ultimate dream is to be able to sit on a mountain top and write, that’s kind of my final destination. I want to fully explore the media space, print, magazines, television, online. I work with content and understanding how information fits into the society is what I enjoy. I want to continue in that space and see how far it goes. The day I go, I hope that somebody would look back and say here is a bunch of books, CDs, DVDs or what ever it may be and say, this is what this person created.