Addresses

Addresses are given to us to conceal our whereabouts

— Saki (H.M. Munro)

First you take a right after the vegetable seller's kiosk.
   The blue one.
Then you'll pass the school painted green
   by the way before the T-junction
Turn right, you'll find him
   just after the big mango tree on the left
If you get to the gold house with the black gate,
   you'll know you've gone too far

You can't miss him, his prose style is inimitable
There's no artifice, he's the genuine article
Elliptical, yet full of quips and surreal turns
When you read him, you feel as if you're with a friend

Deceptively deployed and unadorned,
   the language is unassuming
Yet, on a sentence by sentence basis,
   his writing is simply sparkling
But even with the arcane plots,
   his characters come out fully fleshed
Still, don't ignore those few hints in the dialog,
   he might be pulling your leg

Addresses, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note. The titles tell a tale of unanswered questions, lose yourself in the music (spotify version)

• Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home) by Marvin Gaye
• Where The Streets Have No Name by U2
• I Wanna Be Where You Are by Michael Jackson
• Where I'm From by Digable Planets
• Home Is Where The Hatred Is by Gil Scott-Heron
• Can't Get Nowhere by Omar
• I Know Where I Stand by Johnny Gill
• Where Do We Go From Here? by Incognito
• Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home) by Paul Young
• Where Are You? by Dexter Gordon
• Where Do We Go From Here? by Cherrelle
• Wherever by Omar
• Home Is Where The Hatred Is by Esther Pillips
• Where Are We Going? by Donald Byrd
• Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To) by Dianna Ross
• Where Are We Going? by Marvin Gaye
• Where Pathways Meet by Sun Ra
• Where Do We Go From Here? by Jamiroquai
• Somewhere In The Night by Grant Green
• Where Are You? by Ben Webster
• Where Do We Go From Here? by Vanessa Williams
• Where are you tonite by Chaka Khan
• Brother, Where are you by Abbey Lincoln

See also: Finding your way in a country without street addresses and newfangled addresses

[Update]

A lovely documentary on the conundrum of addresses in Costa Rica.

File under: humour, culture, observation, perception, maps, Ghana, Africa, poetry, toli

Writing log: January 31, 2022