Amatoritsero Ede
Globetrotter
(From Globetrotter & Hitler’s Children – New York: Akashic Books, 2009)
a
toronto is
amsterdam
adrift at sea
it breathes the open atlantic
where lines and angles blur
and bend into mist
toronto is
prague
without her anchoring of
narrow streets  narrow sky
and
virgin-tight apartment blocks
it is london long-jumping
her imperial shadows
trafalgar-ing into space
b
in winter the north comes
to visit
without her lights
not even scheviningen
could breathe
such bone-bending blasts
sir winter
gruff arthritic old braggart
with woolly mane
is that snow on his head
or is it soyinka’s hair
fluorescent against the night
of africa’s dark politician
as we sit in düsseldorf
in a foyer of smoked hotelled wine
and eye the question
c
photographer
you have no perspective
wide as the autobahn
between scarborough and etobicoke
where the roads scream and cry
rubber rubber
tears long as a calendar year
and look where the streetcar has left a scar
in the brush flower
as it goes berlin-ing around queens avenue
the white-draped reichstag is not here
there should be no hurry to undress it
with tourist eyes
Very nice lines…..i luv it…well articulated.
If you are a Nigerian….perhaps Lagos can substitute for Toronto…. I might be wrong.
Lagos comes up much later in the poems. You have to get the book from amazon and see.
Lovely connections of times and places… indeed ‘there should be no hurry to iundress it with tourist eyes..’
Very inspiring work, Amatoritsero!
A poem that covers a lot of ground, in both senses. Local and yet global. Great imagery.
Rapturous poetry.
I especially like “Berlin-ing around Queens Ave.”…nice write…
Nice lines,leave a lot to imagine about Toronto
What I like most about this poem is that it is full of unexpected, pleasantly surprising observations of the world. Young in all the good ways and old in a great way.