A Hunter And A Trader (For My Parents Who Left Home Decade Sum Years Ago) Poem by Abdullahi Suleiman Otiwe

By our culture
men do not die
they leave for the forest
to hunt animals in the bush

I could remember at my seventh
my father took an iron stick
putting some fire to murder a rat
he said he would not kill it at home
that he would kill it in the forest

When my father took the stick
telling my mother to light a stove
preparing ahead of the meat a lunch
My mother wondered the difference between
killing animals at home and in the forest

I was a young lad unaware of
what my father was trying to do
but I could remember my mother cried as people came
begging my father not to go

My eldest brother provoked
urging people to let go our father unarmed
But our uncle said something I'll never forget
He said men hunt in the forest forever

As I grew up flashing back the memory
I realised my uncle's narrative
as he told us what it meant to be a hunter
and what it meant to stay at home
and what it meant living in the forest forever

I could remember my mother told my father
that if he left for the forest
She would go to the market
so if a man leaves his home for hunting
the woman goes to market to buy some stuffs
that is the only way
the children could become orphans

My father became hunter at my seventh
My mother started trading at my eleventh

A forest is forming in my head
Let my father come back to hunt memories
I have opened market in my heart
Let my mother come back to buy some feelings