Poetry

Over a tundra of red sand they arrive eager as stadium
fans, with laundry-like sacks and bags, separated into queues:

The UNHCR Somali driver speeds by a small herd
of white cattle prodded along by a desert farmer.
rust-colored dust in its wake clouds barbed-

They told you that their enemies surrounded
the women, the countless rapes fifteen miles
from the border, even on the outskirts around

“When they came to camp, they asked my friend Abdi
if he was ready to join the militia. He said, no.

“Another main concern or risk that we face apart
from civil unrest is the threat of banditry,
mainly between Dadaab and Liboi, by far