A Neighbour Stole My Sufuria Today

Today my neighbour stole my cooking pot
at the fireplace
My ugali* was still cooking.

I sat back
I mused this:
"Well, Kinsman, if a monkey shook
all the tamarinds in the tree then it is a fool;
but pray, what if it ate one at a time?"

I forgave my kinsman
As good neighbours do.

From the rusty hole of my shack
I saw children chasing each other
One carried a sufuria*

From my ear-shot, Kinsman,
I heard one child scream for ugali scrappings
From my own cooking pot.

From my shack
I sat and thought.
I had lost my appetite.

*Sufuria--A Kiswahili term for a cooking pot
*Ugali--A kind of sticky meal, thicker than porridge, made out of flour

C) Lorot Salem 2011