Place Poem: Serengeti

a gloomy weight presses upon me with increasing force. i turn stiff and thankless. my eyes darken, dead with distaste. the sun forbidden to shine, my soul aching. the gloom grows.

until… …it stops. on the last day the sun, fed up with its imprisonment, breaks free. a single beam parts the clouds and hits my shriveled skin. a tingle. a sensation of pleasure ripples throughout my body, and I remember warmth, (freedom, brightness, love!) and I emerge from the dampness.

The cloud covered sky fades into the distance as the truck’s wheels roll on and on, and on…..

———

The sun and the dryness are my element. The dirt blows through the air and makes a home in my hair
—but I don’t care.

It’s quantity under my fingernails is of such a proportion I could build a termite mound
—but I don’t care.

This, I relish. 

And the animals! it’s surreal.

Simba plays with his siblings on the side of the dirt road, rolling in the tall grasses

A peace settles over the plains 

The sun begins its habitual salute of red and orange 

And the stars! they're sublime

At night I watch the flames of our camp fire glow and dance in the cold air

Above me rests a blanket of brilliant stars

My breathe catches each time I lift my chin to the heavens. I wonder at their bold radiance.

At the sheer amount!

The ripple of the milky way is perfectly articulated as it flows through the inky sky

The rebirth is complete as I settle into the sounds of hyenas yipping in the dark distance

Eyelids descend and I anticipate the promise of another sun soaked day