Saturday, 2 February 2013

Crazy Peter Prattles

So what is the mountain deal
about the minister’s ailing son
that she breaks boiling news?

How comes it was not whispered
when Tina’s hospital bed crawled with maggots
and her eyes oozed pus
because the doctors lacked gloves?

What about Kassajja’s only child
who died because the man with the key
to the oxygen room was on leave?

I have seen queues
of emaciated mothers clinging to
babies with translucent skins
faint in line
and the lioness of a nurse
commanding tersely
‘Get up or leave the line.’

Didn't I hear it rumored that
the man with the white mane
and black robes
whose mouth stores the justice of the land
ushered a rape case out of court
because the seven-year-old
failed to testify?

Anyway, I only remember these things
when I drink,
they are indeed tipsy explosions.

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