Victoria Naa Takia Nunoo
you think about nine
and it’s one big compound
the water tank and night stars
your grandma’s voice
attributing the sudden power outage
to a sitting president
you think about ten
and all you hear are
6AM radio jingles
6:30AM morning news;
good morning in seven different languages
half of which you can’t verify
and 7:00AM school bells
eleven brings call cards and phone booths
noon queues and prank calls
twelve comes with the wishes the desire to belong
some consciousness that envelopes like you’ve never experienced before
thirteen marks the beginning of your caterpillar days.
Victoria Naa Takia Nunoo is a Ghanaian writer and poet. Her works of fiction and/or poetry have appeared in The Kalahari Review, Brittle Paper, Afridiaspora, Afreada, Praxis Mag Online, and in the anthology, ‘The Different Shades of a Feminine Mind’; an African Women Writers Literary Project. Her poetry collection, “Yellow Tulips”, was shortlisted in the 2017 RL Poetry Award, and her second poetry collection, “Brass Neck” emerged the winning manuscript for the 2018 RL Poetry Award and is set to be released in January 2020.