in Zimbabwe, 1992

in Zimbabwe, 1992

one stone turned in a thousand years
through wind to face another and nods

small jack russell ran into the road
its owner came out after our van hit it
and shot it through the head

there were no guards at the monuments
because they can't afford them you could
graze millennia-old paintings in the rock

you could rub them away

one lion cannot chase two antelope

small pink-undersided hands like petals
touched my hair because they had never
before held this color I touched back

my father with his gas generator showed
The Life of Christ in Ndebele eyes glittered
under billion stars some people transfixed

some ran around the side of building
being projected onto and found nothing
where the characters had disappeared

off-screen