Just that one little
word on the note
on top of the keyboard
it changes everything
that word and the heart in hasty blue
pen on the back of something
everything points at other times than now
sit on the backseat closely together we must
all fit in
the driver’s playlist consists of nine tracks in loop
among them three versions
of We are the world in between red mountains and villages
just that one word the little label on each other’s forehead
I call you client
call you goutweed
call you refugee
it changes everything
that dinky word in the dark
an unknown dog is barking
because the longest day of the year
has disappeared and everyone we meet
on our road-trip mentions Punishment Island and Kisiizi Falls
where they would throw down the unwed pregnant
as a warning to others
the little word unwed
changed the pregnancy from happiness to punishable
until one day a pregnant held the older brother’s hand
so tight that he fell along to their death
and so the practice was changed
I cut the cream to pieces
so that the cat can lick the bottom
just like someone fed up with waiting who wants to cross
the border by foot in the heatwave
I long for the scent of your cheek and shut the darkness
inside through the wide-open door
dark is only a word