of us all, a lusaniya asks but one promise:
that from it, you & i may never eat alone
i.
of hills small & grand, i prefer
those around which my mouth
often waters in anticipation of taste:
the yellow delight — ettooke!
steaming beneath tapestry of green
banana wrappers
in the company of thick groundnut
paste luwombo,
rich with the weight of mushrooms,
& the blood of plump tomatoes;
poised upon a wide lusaniya,
calling the centre to itself —
brother, neighbour… cousin, sister…
in harmonious partaking of the heap of mush,
the air sweet with a redolence of gratification:
hints of jjajja’s aromatic cooking
i think of it, & think of my childhood,
of family
i think of it, & think of my childhood,
of family no more
ii.
matooke is the only temptress that
always gets its way with me, i often jest
& i too have come to believe this to be —
but in truth, swamp yams tickle me in all
the ways an infatuation, unbeknownst
to mind, assails a heart sworn to stone.
just like wisdom through a folktale,
in every telling, prolongs memory’s
stride into yet another generation,
a generation to whom distant bloodlines
are merely delayed amputations,
mother’s taste buds followed me here.
i cannot quite fathom, for the love of precision,
my obsession with this scoop of Ganda gold
but hot & quick as many bites go, i feel a closeness
to mother in every rush of subtle sweetness;
a kind of tender love whose exact taste
i may never place
a kind of tender love whose true warmth
no lusaniya may ever trace
iii.
above all else, i am alive,
& that’s worth celebrating.
grim as today may be,
with me are moments borne in
the burgeoning fountain of memory:
times of merrymaking, a feather
about the wind, pieces worth holding
onto, a life that earned its count.
something within me believes,
& pardon my childish optimism —
soon or later, moments of the kind
will return to me,
& when they eventually do,
i will be here for them to find,
here to experience the warmth
of family once more,
here to partake of the lusaniya‘s givings,
with my friends.
here to partake of the lusaniya‘s givings,
with the family that stayed.
Glossary
lusaniya – a tray, usually round, upon which food is served.
ettooke – singular for matooke.
jjajja – grandma (the word jjajja is gender neutral so it applies to grandpa too).
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