Thursday 27 November 2008

A Night at Club Mak

Expats are living it up at Club Makakola
The diplomats wife sips gin
'God!' she says 'it's hell in that village!
How do they cope, knowing
this civilised place is so close?'
The researcher next to her stretches his legs
'my two week study here has shown
how this place works, what it lacks
I'll be able to change things,
get them on track, just you see!'

There's a murmur of approval
as a waiter brings another round.


Club Makakola was a popular ex-pat drinking place in Malawi, 1980s.

9 comments:

Dave King said...

Beautifully not stated, but everything said that needed to be said. Great.

The Weaver of Grass said...

This really gives food for thought - i hope those days are past but I am sure they are not.

polona said...

ah, humans!
makes one wonder which is more civilised...

Lucy said...

A wry little poem!

Anonymous said...

hey thanks for your kind words about Zinger - me too - i'm addicted even more to bunny blogs now that i am without them. never would have had them if it weren't for a friend a few years ago giving me theirs and now i can't live without them! amazing little critters. Killer bunnies is a fun game if you like getting goofy, kinder bunnies isn't so rowdy but kids like it ;-)

Janice Thomson said...

A lot of deep subtle meaning to this poem. Wonderfully said.

RG said...

People ... geeze.

Nice new picture up top ... Winter slowly closing in ...

00 said...

I really liked that poem, it had just the right dash of dark humor.

Michelle said...

I grew up in Malawi from 1975 to 1988 - in Limbe. I was a little young to sip gin at Club Mak but often swam there. Yes, the expats did live it up - and probably still do.