Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
You go to boarding school, put on the slate colored nylon shorts. Mud the sounds of a foreign tongue. Meet some friends that listen to you and try their best to empathize. You brush your teeth, sit in rows. Eat things like sandwiches and noodles. You wash your hands, make your bed. Once you get into a fight, and his mouth opens and bleeds. You are relieved that you let yourself feel heat under the skin again.
You go home for summer and home is gone. The village where you threw rocks in the creek, and washed your feet is gone. Even the creek is thin. The homes are ripped open or burnt away. Your door chapped parted mouth reveals the hot black inside; where there is teeth
Or a rug turned over
Beautifully written
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