She could be by any other name
and still wear the face 
that was given to her at birth

except she would live in retro caves
straddling the length of the Nile,
and in a canoe that flicked colours

with the moods of the sky
she would sail North 
she would venture South

she would idle to rest 
for no sake but rest’s sake
to gaze into the knowing eyes 

of translucent fish 
flipping in and out 
of their sparkled water. 

she would read the scrolls 
of our old ways
to remember the rites

of bequeathing last grain
to hungering mouths
of how we fed 

each, to each

with fingers together
like the mashed morsel 
was for the mouth of a child

in Congo
in Sudan 
in Palestine

the earth is bleeding
at her mother core.
she would wear a giant thimble

and by starlight, sew off-kilter 
quilts, so bombs would laugh
instead of exploding

she would stitch them real thick 
to hug bullets close
so they would not seek warmth 

in human flesh and heart.
Then she would start
again, paddling beloved Iteru

calling out her ancient spirit, 
calling for Aman Dawu, 
calling for Kiyira, Kihiira 

intoning each name
like a prayer to our ancestor’s 
ear, to rise with her oar

to flow over the wound-lines 
penned to rend our land apart, 
to swallow our languages 

to gobble up our selves, 
to dim the beacons within us 
that meant that what was ashore,

was a person who would swim 
against glutton tides
to save another 

from drowning.

About the author:

Lillian Akampurira Aujo is a writer from Uganda. She is the recipient of the Jalada Prize for Literature. She was shortlisted for the 2019 Gerald Kraak Award and the 2018 Brittle Paper Anniversary Award, and longlisted for the 2018 Nommo Award. Her writing has appeared/ is forthcoming in Adda, HarperVia, New Internationalist, Prairie Schooner, Transition Magazine, Jalada Africa, and Jacana Literary Foundation, among others. She is an MA Creative Writing (Poetry) graduate with distinction from the University of East Anglia, where she was a Global Voices Scholar.

Feature image by Michel Paz on Unsplash