Head Over Hire — No To Carton Carriers Poem by Tony Cemaluk

She did not hire carriers.
She became the carrier.
And I became the carrier, too.
We became the carriers.

Before dawn,
The store woke before us —
Cartons piled like harvest,
Too heavy for six years,
Too precious to entrust.

My mother tied her wrapper strong,
Balanced one on her head,
One on her hand,
And said,
'Follow.'

From shop to garage,
Garage to shop,
Road dusty,
Sun angry,
We carried.

No wheelbarrow.
No pusher.
No shouts of 'carrier! carrier! '

Because every kobo saved,
Was a book bought,
Was a school fee paid,
Was a block laid,
Was future carried.

They laughed —
'See provision woman and her son,
Carrying like labourers.'

They did not know:
We were not carrying cartons,
We were carrying inheritance,
We were carrying 1974 forward.

Head bent but not broken,
Neck pained but not bowed,
We refused to hire help,
So help would not hire us tomorrow.

— From Four D Originator
— Dearly, Duly, Digitally Documented, Immortalized.