#67 In a Strange Land

There are adventures to be had,
sights and sounds I’m eager to take in—
our first trip into Gulu town
the market at Soroti
country clan life in the east—
I know nothing, soak up all I can.

Routines to master—
When a woman holds a pitcher, offers soap
pours water on my hands into a bowl,
learning to be thorough without waste
of her time or the water
(toward the end, and less an honored guest,
being the one to pour),
Riding the motorcycle taxi sideways on the back
finding where to put my hand to brace
against the bumps and turns.

Parts beyond my reach on this brief trip—
the language (though I dabble at the edge),
the grease the system needs to make things work.

Then things that catch me unawares—
The wind whose rustle through the leaves
I know so well is wrong somehow,
it clatters in the palms,
and tall trees that should be cool and green
surprise with flowering flaming red.

It’s the parts I think I know, but don’t
that seem most strange.