What Do You Call a Group of Somalis?
a nation of epithets
my grandfather is
Mohamed ‘Burgal’—Goes Into Flour
son of Hassan
son of Jama ‘Jiis’—The Lame
what can you call us
when we’ve named each other
everything
lovingly
White of Forelock
Lion’s Claw
Paris
and Peking
Silver of Tooth
Dusk’s Reddish Haze
we’ve called each other
everything
need i continue?
and so you wonder
what is it with these people
a little lesson:
we looked at the sky
and said yeah—the whole of it
all of the blue
above the world
our flag
that blue
and throw in a star
while you’re at it
just the one
to make a point
a certain group
called themselves
the blues
a joke of a colonizer
and we said behold—
this blue
the Horn
all of it reclaimed
under the blue
caressed by the blue
sky and sea
sea and sky
with what words then
can you limit a people
wide as the sky
deep as the sea
claiming horizons for themselves?
with what words
can you
exile a people
who are home under any sky?
every sky—
our blue
every sea—
our salt
every star—
our star
with what words do you threaten
a people nomadic in the soul
who know
now is just now
and nothing is forever
but here’s a cup of shaah anyway
every stranger—abayo
my sister
every stranger—abowe
my brother
shake off the cold and stay awhile
oh the adhan’s almost in
and now we stand
bold and humbled
with what words can you shame
a nation of Mohameds
so many Mohameds
TL;DR:
what do you rightly call
a group of Somalis?
Somali Mohamed
everywhere
where there’s a sky
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