When I Fall in Love, I Talk about Buea (A Valentine's Day Poem)

By Joyce Ashuntantang

When I fall in love, I talk about Buea
One way street into my heart: from mile 17 to Buea Town

Luscious tomatoes, color of my lipstick smudged on his shirt
Remnants of kisses falling on fertile volcanic soil

Liengu's husband, Epasa moto*, part man, part stone,
Sole witness to nature's surrender.

Buea rain plays see-saw;
And nipples answer the chorus on rooftops

Foggy streets clothe my innocence
Ripe bananas assuage my hunger

The taste of nyenge-nyenge** like his fragrance
lingers, waiting,

Sweat from Sarola's*** chase trickles between my thighs
While fruits hang on trees in sight

The rubbery feel of plantation balls
bounces off puerile flesh.

I get lost in corridors of memory
February is no month to remember.

* The god of Mount Fako, husband to Liengu la Mwanja, mermaid of the Sea.
** Strawberries, quite common in Buea in the 1970's.
*** Frenchman, 3rd Principal of Lycée Bilingue, Buea, whose compound had different fruit trees that attracted school children.

Comments

[linda]

i know the author of this poem is a Bakweri native.

[Batuo]

No, she is from Manyu Division.

[Mola Malomba Esembe]

The most touching piece of poetry I have read in a while...