The blood drum pounds in my ears tonight
Here in the black grass
It’s going to be a minute
Before we each breathe in
Across the plain we know
In a minute
Any minute
We will run
Carrying my life
In broken arms
The harms that we endured under the unrelenting sun
We had the longest day before the right night came
Four years of bones built the roof he was born under
Born to pay my debt forever
Today will I kill or be killed?
Our good morning question
We are waiting for the right breeze to carry our footfalls
I smell shea and piss on the nearest child
I do not remember fear
Nothing came before it
Tonight the stars are veiled
They will guide us only
To a place in this wide sky
Where the sun rises
Where the grass runs out and turns to water
Washing my hands and his eyes
Looking forward with eyes open
I can see trees on the horizon
just read the hunger games?? lol, totally joking.
ReplyDeletenice post! great imagery, sub-surface tension :)
I haven't but I might now. Actually, Gulu is a place in northern Uganda I visited earlier this year. Glad you enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteha... no, not a recommendation... unless you like schlock teen novels. and without the reference the joke was terrible.
ReplyDeletedo you find you write more about a place when you're there or afterwards, upon reflection?
Mainly after, sometimes when there it's hard to find the words. I get a lot of inspiration when I travel, snatches of phrases, local language and images, but it usually takes a while for that to pull together into something worth reading; and I think that's easier when you have stepped back. Rather like taking a picture of a mountain, it's easier to take once you get back down, than mid climb, and it means more at the end of the journey because you can say 'I climbed that'.
ReplyDeleteDo you write while travelling?
Amy