Trilobite

Trilobite is an arthropodologist's delight:
many bizarre creatures; no two alike.

five from Tunes & Tens

Kit Robinson

MARIAMA KABA

After Boubacar Traoré

A heavy melancholy

Dogs my steps

From chicken-scratch yard

To desert trek


A lonely path

A sorry dance

From Bamako

To Paris, France


Always a visitor

Never at home

When I leave this place

Which way shall I go?


Is this all there is?

What can I say?

A rag to wipe

My tears away


The problem stems

From an ancient curse

To talk about it

Would only make it worse


Soon it will be time

For me to be on my way

We will see one another

Another day

BADINYAA KUMOO

After Sona Jobarteh

She is a griot

Like her father before her

A singer of songs

A teller of tales of the tribe

A tribe called everyone

Within earshot

A shot in the dark called time


Tracks on a path

A voice in the night

Fingers on skins on fire

A matter of act

A boom chank in unfolding time


Sing me a lullaby

A lullaby for the child

I used to be

I will sing you a lullaby

A lullaby for the child

You used to be

A lullaby that stretches into pain


A riverbed people

Colonized for gain

Remember old stories

Songs’ refrain

Waiting in darkness

For clouds to break open

For liberating rain

RENDEZVOUS CHEZ FATIMATA

After Orquesta Aragon

Let’s get together tonight

At Fatimata’s place

The son cubano makes us happy

Now you feel it

The people are dancing

Down thru the years

A mix of guarachas

The elegance of style

The sky full of stars

A moonlit night


My heart will never forget

That feeling of happiness


Learn, boy

Climb the scales

Dance on the roof of the world


This music lends dignity to the proceedings

Then explodes in a burst of joy


What are the odds?

Who would have thought?

Is there a parallel universe

Where all the same things happen?


I’m not going off the deep end

The rhythm of life continues

Mountains of eventuality

Stand out against a violet sky

BOLEROS PSICODéLICOS

After Adrian Quesada

She enters to a seductive beat

Stirring potentiality

She wants it all

The ocean, the sky above

The dry sun

Laughter like a motorcycle going away

You didn’t tell me

What you like

To spend time before it slips off

As the ultimate girl would have it


Where are you?

Where are you going

With your love?

Say no more of

The solitude of your torments

Under the sun

You care only for adventure

Do not forget me

The drums signal from afar

Thoughts of you surround me


This longing

Is it slavery or love?

These lips

Want only

The universe

If only

You would accept the truth

The boy with sad eyes

Has been trying to tell you

On the water’s edge


This sleepy fishing village

Ends in a beach

Cloaked in bougainvillea

Under a clear blue sky

This is where I see you

Coming toward me

Please continue your footsteps

Right on up to my door

My house is your house

Now and forever


The longing you mention

Is a way of resetting time

To match the inner resources of this love

That creeps and slithers into the shade

The noon sun casts on the street

She exits through that door

Her mind is made up

Of collective memories

Of Japan, Malaysia, Colombia, France

Places you can only imagine

MABANZO

After Juanita Euka

When you write about rain

Don’t forget about the tears

You shed on the riverbank

Or when moving between sound and bay

The water moves fast through the channel

Memories heap up

Light on water releases the spirit

Words slip the mind

Like the loss of proper names


I would have given you the earth

A walk on the word side

We deploy the vocabulary

Of an aging planet

The people move from south to north

Chord progressions in their wake

Time to take stock

Awareness of compression

The soul of Africa

From where we started


Even though we have no words

For what is happening

We cling to the earth’s surface

Consisting mainly of water

That moves with the mind

Under the sun

Stretching across galaxies

Laughing between waves

Breaking the silence

Of unpopulated space


The truth is real

Only you can break the chain

To soak your frame

In a bath of recollections

Admitting curlicues of thought

The glory of life

The crux of the matter

Sailing away

Over the tops of tall buildings

The repetitions of the heart