yam in return for thumb
nyaga, the old woman, says,
in bygone days,
elders came and sat under the adzido tsi (adzido tree)
and talked
discussed
and deliberated
and arrived at consensus
and laughed everything off
as freshly harvested palm-wine
did the rounds in polished calabash
one day,
the adzido tsi was cut
where once the adzido tsi stood,
stands the house of talkfire,
here they debate
argue
and harangue
and arrive at disagreement
and drink movboozer to rain insult at each other
anyone, with ambitions to enter the house of talkfire,
must have
bags of rice
bags of yam
bags of colanut
and stash of cowries
to be given to people in the
seven villages, eight towns and nine cities
in return for their thumb
some say, it is vote buying
others say, it is winning the people’s trust
aga says, it degrades the whole process
and that this is the only place,
where such things happen
but nyaga says,
na lie, na som places, wona de callam, lobbying
na de sem tin, wif different names, abi
beneath the house of talkfire,
is buried roots of the old adzido tsi
who knows if one day it pushes its seed out to see the sun again?
to restore what once worked for all with less berating
nyaga says,
she isn’t sure
she can’t tell
but the future, she says,
is open to many outlets
and branches into many paths
© Sedinam ® Sedinam
