Teyie, Alexis. “Those corn-dwellers, they.”
Transnational Literature, vol. 13, Oct 2021
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are my granary— keepers of all that
is good and vast in me.
She said to me, mama, a bud enters
without knocking.
Yaani, a flower swells out of nothing.
These arms can harvest joy, too.
We are stockpiling suppleness, lovingkindness.
And I say to you, calamity tends
to obsolescence; these gifts of ours,
they are perennial.
Alexis Teyie is a Kenyan feminist and writer. Alex has published a poetry chapbook, Clay Plates: Broken Records of Kiswahili Proverbs, through the African Poetry Book Fund as well as a children's book, Short Cut. Alex is a co-founder of Enkare Review and Magic Door publishing lab.