Kilimanjaro beer

Carving a way through Arusha

says he can
think of a better logo for the beer

than a giraffe,
hence a better emblem

for the country.

He scans the passing scenery

for
inspiration. Mountains?

You lay a hand on his
lap,

as he might lay a rose on
yours,

and tell him how to hold a
woman

A young cow, skin a tarpaulin over the
tentpoles

of her bones, rubbing her shoulder
against

the redbrick corner of a shack, wearing it
smooth?

You tell him of the razor
that

removes the tip of the
moon,

of painting the roses red

Two
bush maasai, together on a bicycle,

riding through a maize
field, garnet robes

wreathing them like a fan of cattle
blood?

Of the sewing up of her mouth,

and on
her wedding night, how the groom

splits her with a
knife, like sugarcane

A man flicking dirt from his
spade

into the back of a Toyota pick-up truck?

Toyotas
can live through furnace and flood

You tell him he talks too
much,

&;quot;Troilus - I hear the darker
race

make sharper, quicker lovers,
eh?&;quot;

Mounds of building
materials,

untouched for weeks or months?

The tease
doesn't penetrate

His girders and bricks aren't
stirred

Birds and landrovers swimming in
dust?

Unbroken night? Shoes hewn from tyres?

You tell
him, &;quot;Your eyes

are like those
birds.&;quot; You stitch

his fingers together with
yours.

Packs of men in safari hats, straining to
see

a leopard in a distant tree,

a leopard that might
be a bough?