This old battered ship is called home
by an iconoclastic ragtag group
proud independent survivors
who by dint of hard work and some luck
are trading between Mars and Jupiter

They breed fish in aquaria built into living space walls
so that all may know the creatures that sustain them
grow rice in large well-lit chambers
stash their great secret in a protected place
a bundle of bones scratched with ancestral names
adorned with other darker totems
that makes them who they are

Today, the first ngente, a naming
with a feast of Ceebu-jenn
everyone’s favourite food
welcoming a new life.
One who will never feel an ocean breeze
but who will tell the ancestral stories
stomp and dance with her sisters and brothers

Once fishers of long lost Atlantic shoals
now hunters for other treasures
safe in their shelter
ready for their future


ngente – Lebou naming ceremony
Ceebu-jenn (rice and fish in a rich vegetable sauce) is a favourite Lebou meal.