I Swallow Fufu
Jerome Masamaka
Belch grrrrhh… on a gulp of light soup
Smack with me
on a mouthful of smooth morsels
Lump lump my fingers stuck
Lump again the soft mound…
I swallow fufu, slurp with me
The strong aroma of goat soup
wafting, lingering,
the scent of stubborn goat
arguing in pepper soup.
Boiled yam pounded into a mash
with plantain and cassava adhering
the blended portion
Meanwhile soup is sizzling
scoped and poured
The flooded bowl is steaming
Broth of meat, zesty and red
garnished with avia leaf
and pebbles of green shito
floating
around jutting rib bones
and the oily tenderloin
Prayer is hasty
with one eye open
spying a snooping fly
and the neighbourhood kids…
It doesn’t take long in a weekend chop-bar
with low toned Amakye Dede
No dancing when asanka arrives
Heads bent low, a short praise
to the ancestral soil and the women
We shall bury all arguments.
I swallow fufu, smack with me
Let’s belch on grasscutter soup
and smile to the good old days
before the coup
and famine tore our land.