Storytellers of the street

Who are the storytellers of the streets?
They are the orange sellers.
They are the sugar-cane traders.
They are the ones whose silence is always a recording,
and nothing ever seems to pass them by.
You see these people,
The streets were built for their feet
& They know its corners like the back of their palm.

The tale of the smoker-pastor can be heard from their lips.
We can learn about the thief-turned national hero from them.
From the Lungus of many Angwas,
to the alleys of the ghettos =
You can see them.
They’re always singing:
come and buy Oranges,
come and buy Carrots,
and nothing ever seems to pass them by.

Today they told me a story about a man,
Who couldn’t mind his mouth.
He fell in-between two women, &
Insulted another woman’s husband.
Woe! Unto such a man,
that ended up beaten into his right senses.

These storytellers are conscious than griots,
yet, they require no pay for their services.
These street stories, are everyone’s stories.




Glossary
Lungus = A slang that mean Corners in Hausa language.
Angwas = An Hausa language word that means Areas.