By Kanute Tangwa aka K(C)anute Tangwa
You were from another realm/
where you declaim reason antecedes emotions/
we met in my compass/
where emotions play dice with reason/
probably you did not fathom/
the negritude-tigritude jazzy fusion/
how could you?
surely you saw me as the product of orature/
because they wanted it so/
which I doubt!
but if your forebears had contemplated our masques and masquerades/
that informed your picasso/
you could have grasped:
timbuktu,
birni gazargamu,
jenne,
gao,
al karaouine,
al-azhar,
askum,
gondar,
shum lakar,
njoya,
benin,
kerma,
kurugan fuga
probably my fault/
since we had time only to play/
which I doubt!
and play, we did play/
oblivious of:
conrad,
roper,
leopold,
verwoerd and kruger
only if I had read biko, je ne sais quoi/
when we met/
below the majestic hvako/
at the lush grounds of mountain hotel/
where a hibiscus hedge formed a barrier between our homes/
that we broke with teenage abandon
unalike the impervious cobra infested sunflower barrier/
erected by the sturdy pandore
you spoke molière with a nasal twang/
which made me giggle/
at how you spoke through your nasal cavity/
and I an admixture of creole and shakespeare/
before we met/
the chasm was wide/
for the beefy beaujolais stinking coopérant next door /
had placed a wedge between caucasus and the heart of darkness.
ton père a coopérant
of another hide?
I assume
a compassionate coopérant like schweitzer ?
I would say
though we didn’t ask for compassion/
mais sois au même pied d’égalité/
just as we played, laughed and cried together in
compassionate mutuality/
you feeling my pain and I likewise/
yes, his chest bore no légion d’honneur/
unlike the burly churlish gendarme coopérant hard by/
flashing his medals expecting a meka
no
but rather a grain of bobe jua, oh mbwan!