Safari

Even though a paler woman sitting sunning outside said they were
Said so to the other two paler woman, all natives too
But with much more Mediterranean blood in them

He explains it to me, after telling the paler one in Arabic
That she shouldn’t be such a racist, in a way joking
I guess, as they, all three, smile and nod afterward
Although he doesn’t

His skin is colored in between the outside ones and the ones in here
He says, angry a bit, he having less of the Northern blood of the pale ones
Explaining Egyptian skin color gradations and prejudice against Nubians

The cool dark of the bar invites me in regardless of color
On this hot walk around an African town, not Cairo huge
Rural more, but not the smallness of a village either

This feels like I’m on some strange safari
What with these racial prejudices
He points out to me
Over cold beers
With no animals