underprivileged
(after lydia kasese for samuel mawa joel who knows why)
the quest for national certificates has stirred
awake the long-dead spirit of camaraderie in us.
people who couldn’t otherwise converse
had they met elsewhere but here at DCRNPI1
are now murmuring into each other’s ears
like old friends.
it had been nine long hours with us
stuck in a stagnant queue whose beginning or end
none of us knew.
i turned to a not-so-tall, light-complexioned man
behind me & told him, wiping beads of sweat
off my brows: tomorrow, i won’t come again.
after all, with this dark complexion;
with this towering height; with this language i tongue,
i don’t think anyone would dare question
my south-sudaneseness.
the not-so-tall, light-complexioned man
with a shy sigh; with a resigned tone, said:
i must come again tomorrow.
without the national certificate;
without other necessary documents,
someone will dare question my south-sudaneseness.
i must come again tomorrow.
this national certificate will be my south-sudaneseness.
& went ahead to narrate how he has always been,
at borders, singled out & asked to prove he wasn’t a wewe2
i think i forget that underprivileged as we all are,
some are unfortunately more underprivileged than others.
1Directorate of Civil Registry, Nationality, Passports and Immigration
2Deemed derogatory, it is a term used to refer to Ugandans, & by extension, foreigners.
nothing remains standing when shrines fall
not an ear took his songs for presages.
an old, demented man with neither a heritage
nor a heir: what does he know
about the benevolence of old gods
that he would protest the demolition of their shrines?
nothing remains standing when shrines fall
our fathers knew that. their fathers, too.
that’s why they endured long enough like time itself.
when you demolish shrines, worst things
my tongue can’t dare say will happen.
night after night, he would sing & sing
that old, demented man with neither
a heritage nor a heir. he would sing
even when every mouth would ridicule him:
what is worse than having neither
a heritage nor a heir as an aged man?
yet he sang until he would sing no more.
now the village is but a carcass of its old self
DoubleSpeak 