In Bulawayo The Streets Are Big by Mthabisi Phili

on the absence of coffee at a coffee shop

the shiny coffee-pot-glimmer provoking
the scent reverberating into hungry nostrils,
the man sitting outside is cursing the morning paper,
beggars are on their routine check for pennies
the music rides on the vibrating coffee waves-dire straits
the beauty maybe not –exposes her legs with
tight neat jeans that fit like fish scales,
the wedding convoy passes with the pomp and
noise and rush of pink and white balloons on
car sides-

in Bulawayo the streets are big and wide –remember
the ox-drawn wagons had to turn in those long gone sunsets
of the Matabeles and the Pioneer Column-
in Bulawayo the streets are big
three big women are learning on their cars
dishing out gossip only the rich can afford,
the music is beautiful and the morning is fading and
and the ice cold rave of a Mercedes flashes fast past
in Bulawayo the streets are big …