It's dawn
Another day of searing heat
A continent away
and they are singing and dancing in Africa today!
Singing dusty circles
round huddles of humanity
a frail beat
pounding on persistent flies
and dancing—that is, the ones who aren't being
lowered into austere
shallow
graves
no legs to stand on ceremony
dancing through waterless pain—for rain!
Two dry measures of inequity
die or live
and he says in African accent
God only knows what then for them!
At barren crossroads beyond despair
volunteers choose
the child to treat
the one to cheat
as parched analysis shrivels on hot, brown wind
which blows relentlessly
infiltrating
already shrunken skeletons.
It's dawn
Just another day
And I sing
before a plane takes me on vacation
flying over a continent
of excess
I'll die if I eat just one more thing!
Stuffing body into jeans
I dance
twirling, whirling
in a trance
transitory gain—for rain!
So much bother to move the hose.
At dusk
it chooses
to fall
condensed in drops
lavish cats and dogs
that soak my pretty flowers and bright green grass
double refraction
causing tears
which I send to Africa—
where they are singing and dancing today!