On the Road with N

From the garage

dark and calm

we slide onto the street

Music tunes behind

dust and cars inched up close

we settle down to wait

in patience that is necessary

N talks of congestion

banning cars from Nairobi

making everyone use public transportation

not matatus but trains

not with wooden benches but cushions

“How can you leave the seat of your car

for a wooden bench?”

—

There, outside

a fence

white and long and windy

On the other side

shacks: brown, metal, roofs, walls

so close to the residence

of the president

A woman washes clothes in a bucket

bending over with straight legs

in this astonishing, flexible way

I remember how once upon a time

an acquaintance slammed

straight into the pristine white fence

full speed, and probably not sober,

freeing himself though with the solution to everything

—

Here, inside,

we decide

if it was not for borders

we could all go where we pleased

and maybe it would be better

N was to leave

back then

as a professional football player

Even today, he’s best in his town

unsurpassed by the new generation

About to leave

he broke his leg

the big bone

broken clean and thorough

by a matatu

We roll freely now

town behind us

N talks freely now

acceptance between us

—

A year and a half

on the sidelines

on cruches

In the end, he recovered

but they didn’t sign him

“Maybe it happened for a reason?

Maybe in Europe,

I would have lost my mind

and died on drugs?

To me, it’s not an accident.”

I glace over at N

astonished by this bendy, flexible way

to accept

—

We stop

another fence

another residence

There, outside

is where I live

Fallacy

Today I sat at a table

With a vet, clerk, farmer, banker, professor

all concerned about inclusive business

Voices were low, humble, conspiratory

The room lit with a few bright lights

Contributions to the conversation were carefully announced, delivered softly and determined,

like a feather falling down to the middle of the table

to be examined and accepted

with understanding nods and continuous “hm”s

Among water bottes, notebooks, glasses, suits and cloth-covered chairs

the consensus was reached

that we too readily fall prey to the fallacy

that technology solves anything

by itself