My Fondest Memory Poem by Akachukwu Lekwauwa

My fondest memory
What I remember most fondly
From my childhood days

Was it the trips to the village
For the new yam festival?
No, it wasn't.

Was it the trip to Nekede zoo
To watch the baboo clatter and play?
No, it wasn't.

Was it the Christmas festivities
Where the 'ekpo' masquerade serenaded the neighborhood?
No, it wasn't.

Or,

Was it the spring time of old
When in the rain I played with mates?
No, it wasn't.

But,

It was when I would go
Together with dad
Into the woods, to aim shots
At the asa bird
With a 'y' catapult
Fittingly, I would use mine
Which unlike dad's
Was softer and easier
For my slender might to distend;
My fondest memory.

It was when I would take a walk with dad
Along bush paths, to catch grasshoppers
Usually, I would dive
At the low-flying and hopping nymphs
The more astute 'igurubia'
And the preying mantis,
These were the exclusive preserve
Of the experienced hands of dad;
My fondest memory.

Culled from my vivid eidetic memory
These were mere leisured times
With no little effect
When much of my world
Had yet to be mapped or explored
We slowed down the sunset
And hastened the moonrise
Seemingly, the earth stood in her orbit
For me and dad
Those strolls meant everything
My fondest memory.

In my heart
They are there
Like low-hanging fruit
I reach out and pluck them
My fondest memory
What I remember most fondly.