The Dots and Dogs

The Dots and Dogs
by Timothy Ogene
Dot (noun): a drop in the head stream flowing from shanties
to cities in search of crumbs or fortune; anything that drops.
e.g here comes the Dot, offer him seat.
He sits under the shade of an abandoned stall, smokes his cigarette carelessly,
a swirl of thoughts in his head; a struggle between the music
in his mind and the rhythm of his body.
The sun attacks his bald head prompting sweat to trickle down
his forehead. It mixes with his tears as they too make their way
out of his yellowish-brown-eyes. With one hand, he wipes,
with the other he attacks a restless fly buzzing around his beard;
a reminder of how he loathes those buzzing about with their
plans to fix the economy.
The street gradually disperses, the sun bids him good-bye.
A few poles away, two stray dogs are locked back-to-back
…in the receding sun…in front of him.
Darkness offers him sleep, he refuses. Walks away
Where? If he knew, his steps would be firm.
Hunger hunts him down, forcing him to puke a thread of green liquid.
The dogs, now apart, crunched on crumbs observing him with empathic
curiosity as if to say “if not for your human-pride, we would have offered
you our leftover”. They were wrong, their leftover was his dinner.
The love birds walk home, he lies beside an old rickshaw
– in his dream, there was enough to eat and drink.