Re-Member Me: Paradox of our Times

[ Image from africancolours.com ]




I am tired, Kinsmen, of reading John Locke
Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, Comte
I am tired reading Max Weber, Gramsci,
Michael Alexandrovich Bukunini.

I want to read about my ancestors
How they could keep our history in their minds
Dates, locations, chronology of events
I want to learn how they could read offals
And tell the topography of our land
Their rivers, the hills, the valleys
And of approaching enemies.

I want to learn the herbs they chewed
To cure us of constipation, or how a snake
poison could be neutralised. I want to know these things:
How my ancestors were in their "state", their "family structure"
Their "court structure", "Punishment", "Oral narratives"

Of equal importance, let it be known,
I want to know where my umblical cord was buried
To rest the spirit of my forefathers
Let the wisdom of my people be brought back
Let it be told anew in our huts and river-beds.

I am tired, Kinsmen, of reading John Locke
Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill and Comte
Their knowledge confuses me, it further eludes my umblical cord
For they speak of foreign things which our people won't understand
They speak of alien things which our land hasn't heard.

My good forefathers, in the ways of our people,
I should have asked where this John Locke's home is
Whose son and grandson is he
Where he got his wisdom from
All I was told is that "he said that"

In our wisdom, don't we sit him
Under oron tree asking him to tell us
Where he heard from what he says?
And if he speaks of what we don't understand
Won't we admonish him, telling him to tell us
About what he heard, saw or touched?

I want to learn the ways of my people
Even if they are not in books:
I want to read from Loitabela's lips about poryo maua
kollowa, Lotiriri, churman
I want to read from children singing under the moon
I want to read from kidong'a and sapana
I want to read from the baraza and the Marketplace
I want to read from the proverbs and idioms of my people
I want to read from the ululation of a woman
I want to read from a war cry
I want to read Geography from offals.

I am tired, Kinsmen, of reading John Locke
Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, Comte
I am tired reading Max Weber, Gramsci,
Michael Alexandrovich Bukunini.

I want to read about Loitabela
Kama Chemne, Lolima, Lotebus, Loyapan.
I want to read about my ancestors.

C) Lorot Salem 2011