i.
After kindling fire from your burning, breaking heart,
Orí moulds two cauldrons from the steeliness it assumes,
and pours inside each, steaming streams of tears out of you.
Orí forages the myriad times your friend told you to straighten
your limp wrists, and you clamped your hands into manly fists
—pods concealing beans of your elegance— that Orí smashes open
for collecting, soaking, rubbing together, and peeling.
Orí pours the naked beans into a boiling cauldron.
As they cook to tenderness, Orí reaches into the moments
you curved your mouth into a bow and gathers all the arrows
of words you shot in defence, to bind into ìjábẹ.̀
With the Ìjábẹ̀, Orí mashes the beans into a fine paste,
adds a dash of your peppery pain to taste,
sprinkles of seasoning crystallized from your will,
oil in your hips’ dream of swaying,
and gbẹ̀gìrì is ready.
ii.
For the àmàlà, Orí scoops your powdering self-esteem,
pours it into the second boiling cauldron till it thickens.
And with ọmọrogùn carved from the snapped branch of
your felled friendship, Orí stirs the mix;
turns, and turns, and turns
till it’s a dough the brown of your skin.
Till it stretches and sticks,
and the àmàlà is ready.
iii.
Where you sit cross-legged in meditation
for healing, Orí feeds your consciousness
morsel by morsel of àmàlà dipped in gbẹ̀gìrì
till you are full of yourself;
till you are… sissy.
GLOSSARY
Àmàlà – a Yorùbá meal prepared with yam or cassava flour.
Gbẹ̀gìrì – a Yorùbá soup made from cooked peeled beans.
Orí – an inner self that embodies spiritual intuition and destiny in Yorùbá metaphysics.
ìjábẹ – a short broom used in mashing cooked food into smaller particles.
ọmọrogùn – a short smooth stick used in turning or mixing food.
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