A couple weeks backs I traveled down to East London, in the Eastern Cape in South Africa. East London reminds me so much of Montgomery Alabama: the streets, old buildings, crowds wandering. Driving through East London I remembered how twenty years ago I arrived for the first time in Montgomery, all my possessions packed in my car, having never been there before. I got to Montgomery in the evening, looked out the window, walked out on the brick street, smelled the evening air, and said, yes, I think I’ll live here. ISetting foot in East London, I feel l could almost do the same. Here is East London
Sometimes I miss the intuitiveness with which I lived. I used to be guided by smells, by the texture of light in the evening, by the way a building crumbled. That’s how I ended up in Alabama, in Chad, even in a glass house in South Africa. This intuition is what I write from – I realize this more and more. I follow traces down narrow alleys, invite strangers for a drink wondering if they will become lovers, sit by women at bus stops, knowing they may change my life.
You reminiscing reminds me of some lady I used to look at in the mornings of my school days 13 years ago, I was in grade 10 at the time and was a very popular and seemingly smart person, but I underlooked myself of the place I came from. She was more clean than what I usually see in my hood and was beautiful to what I’ve seen in life that far. Dark skinned girl that had sparkling eyes in which in my sight was like me seeing a star in broad day light.
To Be Continued…