OEA

Got drunk One day

sipping the OEA

rich malty flavor

sharing beer

from papas’ icy cold glass

At cafe Garibaldi

I was five

Once at home

I was the circus

my head was spinning

I was the ballerina

dancing on the horse

The circus was gone

It's bumper cars, the elephants

Little left of the tracks

there would soon be

the wind to erase then

Once again the lot back

the camels, the sheep

goat to market

A passage

For the Mehari and their riders

The tall Tuarek wrapped

with long dappled covering

wrapped head and entire face

just a fissure for the peering

eyes black grainy Kohl (Chahl) liner

to clear their pupil from sand debris

starting south east

toward Timbuktu

to the salt, silk and marabou

exchange stations

old center of Riches and Traders