Naicity

Nairobi,
Closed galleries and coffee shops ,
9p.m.
Uniformed security guards,
Only thing open is taxi doors
And F2
From where I hear-
It’s! My! Life!
And wonder if it’s mine really.

Late hawkers selling fruit
And green beans
Beckoning the shift worker
Sole singles hurry home
To silent bed sitters
You wish the night was longer
For time to forget hunger
With some matoke and fish at city market
And bones for the dog you left on a leash.

Walking as if guided
With eyes wide and glazed
A whisper would startle,
Would make us no longer dazed
By things we’ve compressed
As we wait for right timing
Right moment.
Drumming on the table and humming,
Biting our nails to the roots
Dreaming up ideas
Castles of sand that last but three minutes.

I don’t want to go away
I’ll sit on this pavement
And dream until dawn-
If the cops come I’ll show them
My I.D is right on me
Child of the street.
1ST May 07