Ga Lessons in Grandma’s Kitchen<\/strong><\/p>\n \n The only Ga I know is brief and functional: I am standing in my grandmother’s kitchen; Osu in the harmattan. Her back is towards me; and she is singing her mother tongue, Mi nuu shi shi, I tell her.<\/p>\n So, I watch her gestures instead the diction of deference the articulation of strength the vernacular of courage as And, somehow both slowly and all at once, Now my eyes <\/span>are prickling with tears because How can I make poetry out of a language I don’t know.<\/p>\n \n ‘Ga Lessons in Grandma’s Kitchen’ won\u00a0Third\u00a0Prize in the 2019 Newcastle Poetry Competition.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ga Lessons in Grandma’s Kitchen The only Ga I know is brief and functional: Mi nuu shi shi. I don’t understand. I am standing in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2831,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[604,605,388,603,59],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.nclacommunity.org\/content\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2850"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.nclacommunity.org\/content\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.nclacommunity.org\/content\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.nclacommunity.org\/content\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.nclacommunity.org\/content\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2850"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/archive.nclacommunity.org\/content\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2852,"href":"http:\/\/archive.nclacommunity.org\/content\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2850\/revisions\/2852"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.nclacommunity.org\/content\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.nclacommunity.org\/content\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.nclacommunity.org\/content\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.nclacommunity.org\/content\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nMi nuu shi shi. I don’t understand.<\/p>\n
\nShe’s pulling pots out of cupboards;
\nshe wants me to help her cook the evening meal.
\nI don’t cook.
\nI don’t tell her this.<\/p>\n
\nthis language I don’t understand. The words jump from her lips and
\nscatter across the room like children dancing kpanlogo.
\nThis language of unwavering pride.
\nSharp as com wine. Sweet as rice water.
\nForceful as a river cascading through the gutter;
\nsmooth as powdered maize.
\nSomehow both boisterous and melodic.
\nThen she turns to look at me,
\nexpectantly.<\/p>\n
\nand take my lessons from what I see:<\/p>\n
\nfrom the way she calls me with a casual sweep of her hand
\nand knows that I will follow;<\/p>\n
\nas she cracks into the fishbone with her bare, wrinkled fingers;<\/p>\n
\nshe tosses the flesh to the sizzling oil without fear of the fire.<\/p>\n
\nas we move around one another and the spices circle the air
\nour silent symbiosis produces a kind of sustenance:
\nthe meal we’ve prepared;
\n(komi, <\/span>fried fish, avocado pear, shito on the side)
\nthese steaming plates to satisfy us both.\u00b7<\/p>\n
\nI think that what has happened is precious and beautiful.
\nBut I can tell it to no one.<\/p>\n