“Buhariyya / Buharism” by Sada Malumfashi

When We Speak

It is like the effortless flap of wings
Of a dancing rainbow butterfly
Like a stuttering fit of coughs
From the collapsed bridge of Grandpa’s mouth
Chiseled from an appropriate weight of breath
To form rivulets of sounds that gallop over silence
When we speak

It is the wording we struggle to release
Lost on the tip of our tongues
We can feel it
Converse with it
Its delectable taste taunts watery saliva
Digesting its oral texture in our heads
But then we only release a stream
Of fiery silence
Like meek whispers of a shadow
When we speak

It is the weight of the words our tongue grapples with
As if sense were fried in foreign cuisine
We can feel the marshmallow of the words
Hit rough edges of our tongue
Immerse within taste pores on its roof
But we still find it difficult to switch
And nod our head in appreciation
Of the complex artifices of Language
When we speak

So we transport ourselves back to the familiar
To the conscious structure that disperses thoughtlessly
In the naturalness of its diversity
Without a formal instruction of ingredients
We can brew this blindly in our heart
Pound it with an instinctive rhythm
From within the shackles of the rails of teeth
Spray it out from beneath the bed of the tongue
With an enormous difficulty to subdue
When we are silent