20.07.2009 Birimian Belts In Burkina Faso Poem by Margaret Alice

Focus on the serious side of life, a schedule
for revision and editing, not tossing words into
the wind, using hammer and chisel to bring out
the hidden beauty in words containing a diamond
in the rough, perfect geometrical word constructions
polishing miniature statuettes, revising until the final
scene uniformly shines without fuzzy outlines

I sigh, not today, not in these structured moments
I must assemble blocks of time that allow for concen-
tration, not steal minutes from other activities, I’m locked
into an official text, chained scientific sentences goose-
stepping across my screen, ore-deposit, petrology,
geochemistry, geochronology, Birimian Belts
offering rich mining possibilities

Enticing place names, Ouahigouya, Ouagadougou and
Tenkodogo in Burkina Faso sing a new song, exotic
places inviting my soul to visit strange shores
become a traveling minstrel, sing melodies
rising and falling, seducing my spirit to
suspect the existence of
freedom…