Written piece
AMOMA
Peace Haruna
Nigeria
About this piece
The poem "AMOMA" which means children in Igala language, explores the culture of the Igala people who reside in the north-central region of Nigeria.
There's a pulsing in this soil,
like a full-term child tossing in its mother's womb.
It sits between my toes, burrows into my skin,
calls me daughter.
This pulsing lives on the textured surface of my mother's multicoloured achi:
Yellow of succulent cashews
Green of palm trees
Back of okpehie
Blue of our star studded sky
I know the language of this ground I stand.
I press my ears against it and hear steps quickened to the raw beat of am'akeli's drums.
There are vines in my name which carry the heart of God.
There's tenderness on our tongues
The S's lined in Sh's
The Z's stitched with J's.
Centuries of history sit in the red feathers in our Attah's cap,
the beads of his wrists,
& his earrings, bearing the soul of Ebulejonu,
first and last of her name.
I am the daughter of a scarlet
soil.
Oma Igala.