Leaving Gaborone
Passing by billboards advertising the latest cell phone plans
Dodging combis, cars, taxis, buses
Entering the countryside
Passing by billboards promoting the ABCs of HIV prevention
Abstain, Be Faithful, Condomize
Dodging donkeys, cows, goats, baboons
Passing by not so random bus stops
At not so random trees
Providing shade to the patient passengers and vigilant vendors
Selling their wares at make-shift stands
Air time, Snack time
Sweet nothings, Sweet somethings
Passing through towns
Purple painted beauty parlours sponsored by Dark & Lovely
Strip malls, gas stations, bars, clinics
Passing by housing compounds
Fenced with branches
To keep livestock in ?
To keep intruders out ?
Rectangular, modern concrete houses
Flank round, traditional adobe huts
No longer used
But kept out of respect for the ancestors buried beneath
Pavement gives way to dirt
Dirt gives way to sand
Cars give way to donkey carts
Towns give way to villages
The village housing compounds have only round thatch-roofed huts
It is too expensive to bring concrete here
Passing through the park gate
Set up camp
Drive to the watering hole
and Stop
No more driving
No more motion
No more passing through towns and villages
No more passing by billboards and bus stops
No more passing by life
No more life passing us by
just Stopping
Letting life unfold around us
Letting life unfold within us
We have arrived
Khutsi
For Susan and Nancy, who requested a poem
