Credit: Serubiri Moses, from the Africa Issue (c) 2013. 

 

So church bells have tolled all night
Mother said she dreamt of winds that pollinated madness and
Of 30 silver pieces, the price of gold and gold-plated tomatoes
Jewels sprouting from thieves buried clutching jewel seeds
I dreamt
Of scented Rubik’s Cubes hewn out of horse bone
Of supple baby palms
Of Terra flaring gas over cassava mounds, across verdant boulders, over potbellied firemen
I dreamt of a king hanging from a noose
Of father’s corpse dangling from a priest’s entrails.