Between the Tragic and the Ridiculous: An OS [re:con]versation with Jacob Kobina Ayiah Mensah

[Jacob Kobina Ayiah Mensah is the author of Kind Haven, an OS 2020 Digital Chapbook selection. Read more about this series, with the theme “Bloom, Mutation, Entropy, Catalyst, Brine.” You can find the entire series at the OS Open Access Library, here.]

Greetings comrade! Thank you for talking to us about your process today! Can you introduce yourself, in a way that you would choose?

I am Jacob Kobina Ayiah Mensah and I see myself as an algebraist and artist.

Why are you a “poet”/ “writer”/ “artist”?

I do not know why I practise a poet/ writer/ artist. However, everything I hear, see, touch, smell, or taste comes with a story and I must show this to the world.

When did you decide to use the language you use for yourself (and/or: do you feel comfortable calling yourself a poet/writer/artist, what other titles or affiliations do you prefer/feel are more accurate)?

I know from the beginning of my life that I am an artist and I have lived my whole life as an artist. Even living as an algebraist is full of art. Groups, rings, fields, vector spaces, as examples of algebraic structures, are art.

What’s a “poet” (or “writer” or “artist”) anyway?
What do you see as your cultural and social role (in the literary / artistic / creative community and beyond)?