In the crowded bus of Lusaka,
I met Camila —
her smile shone like the brightest star
torn from the American sky.
“I am from the USA,” she said,
“we were told Africa is backward—
no roads, no lights,
only savages wandering in dust.”
I laughed, yet sorrow weighed my chest.
“Behold these streets, these markets,
these souls full of fire.
Your world hides the truth from you.”
She listened, but with hollow eyes.
Her words betrayed her breeding:
“Our parents say you have lower minds.
Yet as I hear you speak,
I wonder if it is the opposite.”
She asked, “Would you not stay in America?”
“No,” I answered, “I have walked your cities.
I saw no paradise there—
only gilded prisons of glass and steel.”
She leaned closer, whispering,
“We lack moral intelligence.
We look down upon those greater than us.
I like you… yet I cannot love you.”
I told her:
“The soul has no color.
I do not hunger for flesh,
I am drawn to the mind—
I am sapiosexual.”
As I left the bus,
she called after me:
“When I return home,
I will tell them—
Africa is Heaven on Earth,
and America…
is Hell dressed in light.”
Dreams of sleight, money changed hands
Heads or tails, they're telling tall tales
Scandalous rumours and urban legends
Half-baked former spies spinning yarn
To a troop of campers sick of eating yams
Tell me something I don't know
Desperate times calling for desperate measures
I've got a lot of questions but will ask one only
Will a 'gator acquiesce to a half nelson?
As the story goes, everything changes
Doe and Mac are still up and about
It says their legend has taken a tumble
Yet still unfazed by the wail of the haunt
They live among the tombs of Lusaka
Mingling with Peggy and other ghoulish pasts
Am I the only one who's had to hustle?
Steel doors slammed in my face
Human obstacles to slow my pace
Errand boy running long errands for ghosts
Bare feet with cracked heels
Bleeding lips like I've been beaten
I've come a long way, blistered and bitten
Sun scorched earth and flies and beetles
Daring to dream but forbidden
Stared down, frowned upon, beat down
Laughed at and derided
Yet insisting upon my right to insist
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