…Now, I hold shadows in my tongue.
I chew wet sand and morph them into a clan.
Grandma slits my palm. She tongues into me-
The lines on them are words from war…
Honestly, this first question got me thinking because during my childhood, I disliked poetry a lot. For me, it felt really boring and unrelatable. And then one day at school, we were asked to write a poem on theme of “The Sun”. I was in Primary six as at that time and fortunately for me, I was perceived as a “serious” student. My only intention behind writing that poem that day was to obtain my full marks for my assessment.
However, my class teacher reacted wonderfully to the work and encouraged me to continue. So then I felt “Okay, maybe there’s more to this. Maybe, I can actually write”. So I started and along the way, I met my mentor who validated that feeling for me.
As a child, I noticed everyone around me was enduring something or the other. There was just this spirit of perseverance in the people I grew up with. So I wrote a poem (which is published on Kalahari review) on perseverance and the victory that follows.
How I Morph Grief into Beauty By Saada Isa Yahaya.
This poem is about holding grief and still know the meaning of beauty.
The sky void of fireflies, of the heavenly bodies
was installed into my supine body.
Now, I hold shadows in my tongue.
I chew wet sand and morph them into a clan.
Grandma slits my palm. She tongues into me-
The lines on them are words from war.
She teaches me how to no longer just bear this name,
but how to greet this grief and mould it into beauty.
- Stories From Young African Poets: Saada Isa Yahaya’s Consistency, Discernment, Poetry Amidst Mentorship. - April 9, 2025
- NIGERIA’S HALIRU ALI MUSA BEATS SEVENTY-ONE COMPETITORS TO WIN ALEXANDER NDERITU PRIZE FOR WORLD LITERATURE, 2024. - April 7, 2025
- Stories From Young African Poets: Love of Nursery Rhymes And Poems of Isah G. Hassan. - March 25, 2025
