YE’ SHENKORE

Teret teret….. yemeseret
hod’kachu tetertiro yisefa begale biret!!!
Yes! I am the daughter of a generation raised on horror stories and trauma
Our bedtime stories did not involve princesses or
Knights on horses
No! We were trained to fear the sound of the hyena
“awooooo endaybelachu”
Told that our neighbors across the street, the one with whites in his beard,
He is a werewolf and he would claim our ears in our sleep
Dad luck and juju didn’t run away by knocking on wood
No, we were told to bite the metal around our necks that is the cross

..

I am a product of Jijiga
My mother’s name is Meseret and my sister, she called her Shenkore
When she was about 8 years old, she went to the school our mom taught at
Come storytime, my mother started her story with the call and response
“teret teret?....”
“YEMESERET!!!” the room rang with the chime of 100+ students until a moment later
Amongst the silence
My sister’s voice, true and proud, said “YESHENKORE!”
Growing up, that is mine and my brother’s favorite response

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I am the daughter of generation who didn’t learn commodities from the tooth fairy
No! My teeth were flung on to the roof of our humble home singing to a bird
“wefe wefe,
Yenen tirs lanchi
Yanchin tirs lene”
Completely ignoring the fact that birds don’t have teeth