THE SNAKEMAN

this was there:
somewhere on Earth

somebody told me to take this tire
to some other place
and so I did

I was many-legged;
the road had two faces

one face was black sand
like an old Jewish doctor
digging for pain
and gold, and diamonds, and coltan,
his voice was good: “Take this tire to…”

the other face was that of a Snakeman
he had but one tooth

the Snakeman he jumped at me
and bit me on the chest—
here, look at this wound,
the tooth is still stuck,
it’s that tear in my heart.

the pain comes at night
a chest pain
terrifying
it’s like I’m going to die
and I try to shake it off
until it goes away

you see! I don’t have much time left
but I still have to push this tire...
all the way to...
to...?

::: ::: :::

[Picture: June 2008 by reading_is_dangerous] In Rutshuru, there was no easy way for me to move around the town safely, so I took the habit of sitting in front of the gates of the house where I was staying. There was a road with many passersby and trucks, and much dust, but little else. The "wooden bike" is a common sight. They say it can be used to carry a load of up to 300-500 pounds. On a flat road or up hill, you wouldn't like to push one, but going downhill an able driver will jump on it, and then it's a free ride... Coltan is the colloquial African name for columbite-tantalite, a metallic ore used to produce the tantalum used in consumer electronics products such as cell phones, DVD players, and computers. Export of coltan has been blamed for fuelling war in the Congo. (This bit, adapted from the Wik page on coltan.)