at the side of the road

it was all just right 
there it seemed

not the sanitized version
troubles tucked away 
behind hospital wards, shut doors
and social mores

as we gingerly traversed around
deep-worn rainy season-induced grooves 
like navigating the curves and bends
of a dried-up riverbed still fresh
with memories of floods
it was all
just right there

charcoal chopping boys
tanks blackened by day
after day of axe to burnt wood
crisp whiteness of new
day with new possibilities
lost in the tedium of bagging
lump after lump

women with beauty bursting
in colours and shapes
from their dress
find no rest
sitting before a wee charcoal grill
space for a couple of cobs
in the hopes of feeding others 
to feed their own

sinewy muscles of mechanics
straining against the boda-boda tire
no hydraulic hoist or compressed air
just raw strength leveraged with 
hand over hand weathered 
by so many seasons of service

it was all just 
right there
in all 
its not-right-ness

yet each one
a story 
lovingly beheld

too great 
a mystery 
to comprehend

so i ask
how can i, too,
just be
right there

Written by Scott Moore
Illustrated by Landon Wideman

Inspired June 2024