In the jam of congested alleys
and on the paths in remote bush lands
I noticed African children race home-built toys.
Push-toys with long handles for steering
made from bleach and detergent bottles,
indestructible for use or as refuse,
ingeniously cut and hinged to imitate long-haul freighters,
or piped with windows like the high-wheeled overland buses.
All rode wooden or plastic cap wheels
of disproportionate size like the real
which must straddle and overcome
the swamps and ranges called roads.... Read more

"Pick up a pig every day from its birth
and you can do it when it's full grown,"
someone told my grandfather,
and no doubt meant the pig would let him,
but in three years my grandfather increased
his already powerful body
such that he could lift the now huge hog.

Like Milon of Croton, who lifted a calf
every day and carted it around,
and was able to lift the ox when full grown;
who won the Greek Olympics' wrestling laurel
six times.

My grandfather did not wrestle men,
but, as a farmer, animals and the ground itself
till he was pinned by a tractor and counted out.... Read more