Agoloso Presents - Atondido Stories Agoloso Presents - Mama Mada | Page 286

Mama Mada
The Street Cartographer
by Wazani Ad am u Ijarafu
At dawn
Classroom boy
Goes for his bag, ready for school
The almajiri boy goes for his empty bowl
He is ever ready to be schooled in the streets
He sets out chanting
Songs that carry the weight of the night into morning
His daily meal is dependent on how good he is with the street map
In the day
his bowl is a cracked calabash
from which he eats crumbs
Gathered in the sun
As he drinks the brown well water
To endure the heat of the Northern sun
At night
His bowl is a drum
He beats away the pain
Gathered in the heat
As he watches the lone moon
To endure the harsh whips of cold
When it rains
His bowl is an umbrella
He covers his head from the water
Gathered in the naked cumulus cloud
As he chants the sage’s mystical songs
To endure the icy waters from the heavy downpour
When it’s dark and the street lights go on at dusk
He quickly sets back to his territorial corner
He knows the bend to every corner
He is the street cartographer
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