My Dad's Creditor Poem by Tony Adah

She was fair and black at heart
A savage Shylock,
Kill your debtor and leave a bad debt?
She came and sat by the façade
Gave no one any salutation.
Brought her mat
And her melon and milled
And messed our frontage;
Stretched her pudgy legs
So no one passed in or out
Of our dear hut.
And my dad skilled in managing them
Asked us to chase a rooster
And mama to boil a tuber of yam
Soon a creditor's banquet
Was done in the state house of debtors.
The mill stopped to mill
And the mouth to curse
So food can go
Another negotiation, a new date to pay
All dad borrowed
To send us to school.