Tony Cemaluk

PROMISE not pounded yam when you can't
pound pounded yam; worst, under oath,
when you can, but compromise instead to pound cocoyam.
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She did not hire hands,
She became the hands.

Carton upon carton,
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She fought a war without war weaponry,
No gun, no sword, no army at her gate.

Planting season,1974.
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She marched, rather than wandered.
She marched in the wilderness of Widowhood
without windows of hope, of help.
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For close to four decades,
It has stood on marble.

Not on sand.
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They said Nwanyi can't do this,
Can't eat that,
Can't own this,
Can't mount that.
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They buried a man, Malukwuo, in planting season,1974,
But they planted the heir, Cemaluk.

Death buried him to sleep,
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They thought the compound fell
Because its walls were low and loose,
Because its gates were wooden and weak,
Because its zinc had rust and dust.
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She did not hire carriers.
She became the carrier.
And I became the carrier, too.
We became the carriers.
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The lights dimmed one by one,
as we held hands in the dark, one last time,
no goodbye — only quiet of silence,
grip loosed, left our cold, feeble hands
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HE sees our pure heart,
Not our poor pocket.
He weighs intention, not income.
He hears the heart, not the hype.
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Not total domination — Just total devotion.
They gave me six slots, I gave them my soul.

Mama said: Don't scatter. So I wrote until
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Not coin in pocket — but coin in tongue.

Cemaluk did not mint gold, he minted meaning.
They said define it — He lived it.
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He died defending truth,
In planting season,1974.
Forty-one years, so strong, so true,
Eze Malukwuo Okwe!
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He was thirteen,
Not man, not child,
Palm-wine still fresh in his father's gourd
When the tree took him.
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They did not come with cutlass,
They came with minutes.

They did not break the gate,
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Do not wrestle in the square,
That is how Diokpala loses.
The market loves noise,
Ancestors love record.
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Allowed Anomaly,
Rooted.
Not in shrine,
In sitting room.
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He did not inherit gold.
He inherited a responsibility.

He did not inherit a throne of silver.
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From larger family,
I trace my line.

Not to gold,
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