Poetry: When I Turned Twelve by MOHAMMED YUSUF
A poem contained by a single childhood memory. The poem’s logic moves between the space of domesticity and the ominous as a young Nigerian boy comes to understand what his role in his family will become. Yusuf’s poem guides its readers through a coming-of-age moment that situates itself between duty and family.
WHEN I TURNED TWELVE
Mama told me that
no one should trespass
into your field. no one!
that it holds the treasures
meant for the one.
So, on one Eke market day,
Papa took me into confidence
Said in six years,
you would be due for
the men’s market
& as Mama haggled away at Eke,
Papa raided my field
& plundered.
On her return,
she pulled her index digit
vertically over her lips
but she never said
Papa was the one.
Mohammed Yusuf
Mohammed U. Yusuf is a young African poet, writer and lover of real human stories who lives and writes from somewhere in Nigeria. He explores themes around humanity, memory and the socio-political. Some of his works have appeared—or are forthcoming—in Olongo Africa Journal, Writers Space Africa- WSA, ARTmosterrific Chapbook: African Politics, RoseyRavelston Books, Lunaris Review, The Shallow Tales Review, Salamander Ink, Best New African Poets Anthology(2021), among others.
