Kenya
The stars here are different.
As is the sun and the dirt and the air.
The only U.S. came with us
in Levis and Skippy and Bayer.
Scorpio looms in sky-spanning splendor,
Orion has stalled in mid-rise.
Wrapped snugly in Holo-Filled Gortex® .
we hear hyenas circling the fires.
The wildebeests wander from me to the haze,
a staggering swell of zebra and gnu.
Karanja asks if I’ve met him
and points to my AirJordan shoes.
A friend read this poem and discovered a deeply personal, but wholly untended political message in this poem that went something like this...
Kenya
(in which our heartless capitalist anti-hero victimizes the local color...I mean the local pre-industrial object of Western exploitation...with the choice of his footwear)
((autobiographical))
The stars here are different and morally superior,
As is the un-occluded sun, the mercury-free dirt and the pre-revolution air.
The only neo-imperialist artifact came with the neo-imperialists
in Levis made in sweat shops and Skippy
(named after the white slave owner who stole the idea from his oppressed slave Ndung-'nu).
Scorpio (which somehow seems to avoid political implications...which is suspicious in itself) looms in sky-spanning splendor,
Orion, the symbol of white oppression and Christian global terrorism has stalled in mid rise...like it should...damnit!
Wrapped in the loot and ecological rape of our decadent society
we hear hyenas circling the fire (which does cause particulate pollution, but is appropriate to these native people who are more in touch with their delicate ecosystem and better stewards of their carbon emissions).
We deserve to have them eat us. (The hyenas, not the natives)
The wildebeests (which should be listed as endangered since its virtual disappearance from Antarctica) graze in perfect natural harmony from me to the haze (formed in the accursed traffic circles that British imperialists built decades ago)
a staggering swell of zebra (also endangered) and gnu (a separate endangered listing)
Karanja (now ignorant of the native tongue his ancestors spoke 3 million years ago due to western indoctrination) asks if I've met him
and points to my AirJordan (that Uncle Tom! He should be ashamed of the way he prostitutes his entire race just to make a few bucks!) shoes
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