Trait Typical Of Hers Poem by Haruna Garba

It lies unknown except in Hausaland
For I have never heard of it
It is not known elsewhere
This piece of intelligence work

Friends turn operatives
Turn spies on to friends
Turn spies with chuck around

We only have to begin eating
And one will spy on the other
If one's utterance could be linked
To the severe engrossment in the meal
For ideas come in obstinate in their flow
But they are made to talk by a best meal
So lead upon lead, break upon break
Friends catch one another in one or two
Through a jigsaw puzzle of facts
And hoot with laughter after at the end

One bright summer morning
After a political rally was done
The partakers eventually settled to dine
The old ones flocked around a large bowl
Sat aloof from the dish of the youth
But not quite out of ear reach

At the middle of the meal,
One oldie broke the silence
To describe how rice is nurtured
That in the fields, with the water she fights draw
For the moment it germinates
Water suddenly returns to submerge her
And the moment she gets submerged
She rapidly grows outward and that emerging is

Dear granny, said his grandson sitting aloof
That trait is typical of hers even in a cooking pot