Addis Ababa Poem by Douglas Scotney

Had 'New Flower',
Addis Ababa,
even existed
at the start
of Menelik's rule,
it would have been
at the southern border
of Abyssinia
instead of being
where it was
at its end,
at its heart.

Nothing unusual
for a Menelik,
for one,
the son
of Solomom and Sheba,
had carried away
from Jerusalem
the original
Ark of the Covenant
after contriving
to substitute it
with a copy.

This recent one
also had
a sense of humour:
he called
his new capital
Addis Ababa,
meaning 'New Flower',
when all your nose
could tongue
was rancid butter
and burning
cow dung.

The nose of Lij Yasu,
the grandson who succeeded him,
lacked irony,
so couldn't tongue New Flower.
Lij left for the Danakil
where he was humored
by killing
and castrating the dead and dying,
and cutting off the breasts
of a girl who refused his advances,
after watching her raped
by his soldiers.