By Yasmeen Maxamuud

Minyaro in this poem refers to Qat (Khat), a substance chewed by many Somali men. This stimulant/drug is a huge social ill. It’s an addiction that claims many. The problems of Qat are countless. Families talk about the grip this social pass time has on those who fall under its grip. It contributes to family break ups, financial ruins, job losses and many divorces. It is however, an accepted social norm.

In the Diaspora, women complain that this social upheaval needs awareness campaigns because it is ruining families. Equally detested by many women is when a husband takes a second wife referred to as Minyaro. The comparison in here highlights how many women feel when their husbands are claimed by this nasty habit and it takes them away just as it would if another wife claimed him. The parallel presents the rejection women feel when they are faced with such a social dilemma. Now that Qat has been banned in many countries including UK , it would be appropriate to share this poem written back in 2004.

Minyaro 

Unfelt she was as she seeps in
Interrupts the calm unwittingly
She marches with force to a feeble soul
Odorless she is and yet intense
Intoxicating in ways I will never know
She steals his soul he surrenders in
His mind I skip grudgingly
The yearning for her, dulls my essence
My mystique and admired scent an ascertained void
I attempt a notice, I revamp some more
He won’t look my way for she has a hold
The rivalry in tow tires my soul
Should I not be the one he serenades?
Instead, it is she, he intoxicates
I retreat in defeat as I toss and turn
I wonder and wonder his whereabouts
I am forced to take my sadness to bed
She lingers through insomnic nights
I find myself in vie with her
The silver lining visible no more
My inner voice warns to wig
Callous she is this vile minyaro 

I try and try to no avail
Oblige I am to the overthrow
No amount of love will bring him back
His senses parted to mystery
Feverish he is to all around
The spectacle of me is foul to him
My loving stare is envisaged evil
He imagines others in the room
I see none I confess
He all but ceases to me and all
He is sinister and seethes as I ask why
Where is the money for the child’s milk I ask?
What has taken over my beloved man?
Has the evil eye fallen on us?
And yet
The air is full of her return
The cycle of evil is in arrival
The wrath of her return upon us 

This evil minyaro
The slayer of families
The lover for men
The ruin to society!

Reluctant Refugee Series

Yasmeen Maxamuud
Email: yasmeenmaxamuud@gmail.com

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Yasmeen Maxamuud is the author of Nomad Diaries