Advice
by Christina Gossmann
At the lakeside, we got talking
about the land, the water
one brown, one red
Hippos are fast, he said
And when they chase you
you zigzag
and run as hard as you can
His hands were in motion
setting an example
At his childhood lake, he’s escaped a few
but not his friends.
There’s water snakes too
Once they bite, stay in the water
Will they kill you? I asked
Instantaneous, he said
you leave, you die
But in the water, your blood is slow
cold
You stay, don’t move
Wait for muti.
Journalist? she asked.
I had a friend, a journalist, she said
On an assignment, in CAR
She got incredible access
embedded with the rebels
One day
they had muti
Became invisible
—including her
When they went into a village
she followed
invisible
By the next day
they had killed them all
and she was there
invisible