1) Song Of A Cordial Meeting From Ghana / Via France (Epistle) (From Songs From The Women Of The L.O.M.) Poem by Otradom Pelogo

Before I left Paris, I was lucky enough to meet a young lady from Ghana, (Africa) : it was a quiet night, a few people out and walking around, and I was heading back to my hotel, when I saw her standing there and decided to say hello, when I found her to be rather polite and courteous. We then stopped and talked for well over an hour; about where we were from, the things we did, how did she get there. Earlier, I was reading a book called, The United States of Europe, by T.R. Reid. And Europe, like America and many, many other countries, throughout the world, including Iraq, is reaching, what they somewhat refer to as an aging population, coupled with the baby-boomers retiring, the result will be, an under populated workforce, thus Europe, like America and many other countries throughout the world, will have to do a lot of outsourcing. And I couldn't help but make reference to another great source, Foreign Affairs, thus seeing the subject explained from an even more unique perspective; a broader perspective, where even now, besides associating Africa with its famous peoples like Nelson Mandala, it causes me to associate it with interrelated events that may be happening in Russia, India and many other developing and developed countries throughout the global community.

(Demographers at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis predict that human population will peak (at 9 billion) by 2070 and then start to contract. Long before then, many nations will shrink in absolute size, and the average age of the world's citizens will shoot up dramatically. Moreover, the populations that will age fastest are in the Middle East and other underdeveloped regions. During the remainder of this century, even sub-Saharan Africa will likely grow older than Europe is today.

To change this pattern, secular societies need to rethink how they go about educating young adults and integrating them into the work force, so that tensions between work and family are reduced. Education should be a lifetime pursuit, rather than crammed into one‘s prime reproductive years. There should also be many more opportunities for part-time and flex-time employment, and such work should offer full health and pension benefits, as well as meaningful career paths.)

And I know from having read in the past, for it was, as I said earlier, my first extended trip to Europe, that there are a lot of ties between these two continents; diplomatic as well as economic, and thus besides pragmatic reasons, she could have also had a long history in the country of France, if she had not told me she was from Ghana. Before leaving, I grab her hand and gave her a soft kiss on the back of her palm, as I said good-bye and began to walk away, when she said wait a second, walked up to me and gave me the traditional French kiss on both checks, before slowly walking away and disappearing into a cool and light French rain.


Otradom's Song

I didn't, of course, once again, catch my plane on time, I think I was about three or four days late before heading out. But the night before I left, as if I was living a nightmare or had just awaken from a dream, I walked into the café after having come in for the evening to have my late cup of coffee, which sometimes is from sunrise to sunrise, where I then looked around the place, and a room that, as I said has equally as many women as men sitting there, talking, eating, drinking, they don't serve alcohol; a soft drink or tea, etc., playing video games or sitting with friends, and quickly, though I wouldn't, and where at least until this very moment, say this is one of my ulterior motives for frequenting the place; to see a beautiful face, when I suddenly realized that there wasn't one single woman in the café. I thought it peculiar as I sat there and tried to ponder on this event, but couldn't figure out why, nor could I, maybe because of the shock, ask any of the men that either worked there or were sitting there as usual, where had they gone; though they seemed not as surprised as I was. I took it as an extraordinary coincidence, and went up to my room for a few hours before deciding to go out for supper, knowing that I would have gone back to sleep and would have awakened from the nightmare that I was now having, and things would have returned back to normal.

For some reason, though still shocked, I was not surprised that it was one of those dreams that you don't wake up from as I surreptitiously glanced into the lobby of the café while either deciding to investigate further or let the momentum of confusion pull me out of the door as I still tried to put together the pieces of this dilemma, that would have to change, at least, I'm hoping, by the time that I left the next day. That evening brought with it the same dilemma as the previous evening, as I'm still now forcing myself from one room to the other; from the café, to the lobby, into the elevator and sitting myself down and staring out of the window for answers, but this time the birds brought me no comfort, and the next morning would not release me from my torment of not seeing a group of women that I had so quickly, though it has been almost a year that I have been visiting there, fallen in love with.

Tonight I found the pictures of Nanya, her sister Noora, and Mary and placed them on the wall, along with replicas of Van Go and Gravure, that I bought in Holland, Brenda, Barbara and the rest of the family, but could not find the answer to my tormenting dilemma. Ironically the night before this finale of occurrences had taken place, I sat there at the table on side of the bed, farthest away from the window and tried to figure out why did the salesman, when trying to buy a music book, at the music store, play a song for me, one that several years ago brought me out of a place between dream and awakening, that has happened in the past; the motif is déjà vu, like when Michael sang at Thelma's unexpected wedding, and yet unique, while the event is not a recording of a past event, but it's the making aware of more than a chain of events to come, even an era, as he, the lead guitarist played a longer than usual though beautiful repetition of part of the song by the lead guitarist, that several years ago; the song; Hotel California. And I found myself speaking aloud; reflecting on what had happened up until that very moment, and even how would I reflect on it in the future; a year, two, ten, even twenty years from now, the time that this small group of women and myself had shared, and the unforgettable bond that had been created, and ironically made the statement 'That after they had all walked out, after they had all gone, after the last one had closed the door, I'll still be loving you; That's why.'

Love, Otradom