Dear Karen Christentze Dinesen
,Save me a seat at the foot
of the Ngong Hills
in Southern Africa
where the Maasai once lived
on the meat, milk, and blood
of their cattle
Lions hunted cattle,
only tearing meat apart
May I sit with you Karen,
under the Umbrella Thorn?
Ngong means rhinoceros spring,
but I can't see the water
or the mud-wallowers
The soil is red weathered clay
that decides for itself what will grow
and God is in the roots
My grandmother Hanson
gave me her grandmother’s
bracelet from Denmark
of white and yellow
metal flowers
She too was from Ringsted
She too was a woman
of the tougher earth
My grandmother ate lettuce
sandwiches during the Depression,
and butter and sugar on bread
when there wasn’t meat
Coffee is expensive, now
My grandmother never told me
how you and I are related, Karen
My mother assures me
that we are
Either way,
I don’t know the land
beneath my feet
anymore than I know Africa
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