Staff

We carve out our generations in stained ivory,
totems. Oh, to be able
to plant a tree that bears fruit,
like fat ancestors that tell their story.

At the center, carrying the weight
of ancients on her shoulder is the grand,
her breasts like missiles.

Every generation carries its own joke,
the line to the next, the family's tree
reaching upwards.

Someone cut away at the center
of our line, scattered the shards
of splintered ivory over our land,
and we have forgotten
the paths to our roots.

Build me a totem
with tendril roots that clutch soil
and hold us steady, sentinels o the plains.


(Staff, Yoruba peoples, Nigeria)