they not breathing after this one

one morning they entered the hospital before dawn and they took him on a bike to m'mok mbin. he is wasting away from not eating, "dry" as they say in pidgin, so everyone guesses it's AIDS, though it's not. after being offered a goat and a fowl. the doctor was able to remove a piece of rusted metal and a cat's tooth from his head. in fact, they were removed from his agege, like an effigy or voodoo doll, but they lead parallel lives, and their relationship is that of two pieces on a chessboard to each other. when any piece moves, all relationships change. later in the week i brought a fowl, with instructions to make a broth, and a type of medicine sold on socalo street that is said to be an antiemetic. the doctor discharged him because it is something a divisional hospital cannot diagnose. they tried another holistic doctor, who, for a goat...

rain is falling here and there but there is still dust in the air because people are slashing their fallowed fields, burning and tilling them, sowing macabo, maize, plantains and egusi melons. there is also the matter of taking coffee that has been drying, (now that the rains are starting) and bagging it and negotiating with the men who have trucks, who park and sit leaning through the windows, staring down at the dust and letting the sun strike them, killing the engines and never really talking. a smile means the negotiation is still early, a sigh means an agreement has been reached. last week two armed men went to somebody's compound and beat him and wanted to steal his sacks of coffee. they dared to because he lives far away from other people so they wouldn't hear his scream. they walked three kilometers up a steep hill and up the narrow path to the compound to steal two sacks of coffee, weighing 80 kilos worth about $36 each, then carry them on their heads down to where they would hide them and later sell.

i'm big ballin'
baby yeah
spendin' g's
i'm on my grind all day
makin' money with ease