Cracking Groundnuts
1. Some nights, when the moon is happy Smiling broadly from its heavenly home. A small crowd gathers in the yard; Grandma, mother, aunty and the others Not forgetting me and three smaller ones. Akangriba the dog would be present As is the cat who never quite got a name. Baba is outside on the dampala [1] With a neighbour for company As the age-old ritual is being enacted, And none can be left out: A hand reaches into the big bowl And grabs a handful of groundnuts, Ka, ka, crack! goes the shells, Hard-pressed between thumb and index. Opened shells are clasped in one hand Or dropped in a calabash nearby And the ritual is repeated again and again. Until our fingers ache, we the little ones. 2. Soon we find support in our teeth. A seed or two usually remaining To keep the jaws busy and sleep at bay. When this becomes too frequent, We earn a rebuke or two, And are driven off to our mats, Beside the cracking party, Under the gri