Names Singing A Song...

I’m looking forward to three days of unmitigated bliss,

total freedom and fun, chatting, laughing with everyone

sharing my passion for life at this kind of conference

Freedom is sweet when it is rare, a real special treat,

having some Francophones at my disposal is the

best part of it, pestering them all day long

to get the latest hits

This will be a conference hosted by ACALAN

to discuss the problem of developing the

African mother tongues , I can’t wait

to meet these exotic names:

Messieurs Souleymane Sangare and Adama

Samassekou, names singing a song in my ears,

they will not be so glad to see me, but

I’ve been looking forward to ACALAN
for more than two years,

I love the speeches and enthusiasm,

expanding in my mind on their plans,

interacting with total strangers, bound

by a single purpose, making them laugh

Seeing to it that they rediscover their

joie de vivre while plotting about creating

a brave new world for all

mother-tongue speakers

in Africa!

So Cerdotola Today

Riding a bus in the caress of African sun

minute dots in the matrix of consciousness

on our way to an ACALAN conference on

African mother tongues –

1st-world vehicles on endless roads

in the vastness of Africa – grass

vibrating green, shimmering awareness;

African rhythms rock me in gentle contentment –

swaying branches dance elegantly in fragile winds –

a handsome pantomime of unity,

guileless abandonment to sweet existence;

golden grass holding memories of long ago

lions stalking their prey;

an upsurge of sky sun-kissed in blue,

grass stalks waving in the wind,

waving to me as we pass

I’m rolling new acronyms on my tongue:

CERDOTOLA*, doesn’t matter

what it means, it seems to say

‘without care, insouciance’,

I’d love to say to my acquaintance:

I feel so cerdotola today –

Do you feel EACROTANAL*?

No, I’m not in pain, I’ve had

root canal work done ages ago…

I skipped breakfast, it makes me nauseous,

now I’m feeling hunger pains,

making me ecrotanal;

the bus atmosphere is so CICIBA*-

sweet flowing rhythms and song,

palm trees outside for a tropical touch,

two cars kissing amorously on a transporter –

a Volvo and Ford –

what will the baby be –

A Forvol or a Volford?

This reminds me, I’ve fallen in love

with a songbird in our bottle store,

he sways his head as I move mine,

beady black eyes watching me,

we play a game of sweet assent

while swaying our heads…

* CERDOTOLA Regional Centre for Research and Documentation of Oral Tradition and for the Development of African Langauges - Cameroon

* ECROTANAL East African Centre of Research on Oral Traditional and National Languages - Tanzania

* CICIBA International Centre of Bantu Civilisations - Gabon