TSE-TSE
(’69) – This piece was part of VENICE 13, the book
published by the Venice Poetry Workshop,
of which I was a member, back in ’71.
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– After beating the Watusis,
—now what?
– Have a bottle of local beer,
pull up a recliner
& help me swat some flies…
– Let’s drink to German & Belgian
colonialism,
to King Solomon’s mines – – –
Uganda, Tanzania,
Burundi, The Congo…
– To the new Africa!
– Beat hard on the Karinga drum,
until it’s circumcised,
but don’t ring the president’s phone,
or pound on the letter “Y” – – –
just find four guards,
a few clerks
& a Foreign Adviser
with a top hat,
and while you’re at it,
go swimming in Lake Kibu
with the other crocodiles.
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