Songs of Anisha
“Ad-vantage,”
by Numero Unoma Giese
(a.k.a ) Sonnet of the bread seller’s baby
My vantage point, upon the tender petals
Of my young soul did indelibly mark,
Like heifers flesh branded with red-hot metal,
A sense of business, value, clear and stark.
While peers in Europe’s pushchairs had a vista
Broad with horizons of great means,
We Africans—me, my brother, my sister—
Beheld from mother’s back our glorious scenes.
More than just knees, buttocks and belts
From up there we saw customers assist
Her tray to the ground, pay, and duly help
It back upon her head as she’d persist
In pursuing for us a better living.
Today I repay her for all that giving.
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