PER CAPITA

Nick Makoha

In another room, an architect removes some dust
covers to reveal a library. Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam 

transcribed in Arabic in a small notebook 
by a scholar friend. I have never seen this book 

before but it has a familiarity and a disposition toward 
a particular trajectory through which to navigate 

that space. A friend of mine whose dad is a barber 
says a haircut is a way to transform the rigid traditions 

of British landscape painting. In December of 1945 
the FBI will legislate for The National Motor Vehicle 

Theft Act as if it were a modern school exercise.
The man in charge will use his right hand. Sections 

of the document will be crossed through. Next to it
is a postcard of the mountains. In ten years’ time 

the FBI agent will be retired from his work but 
the Appalachian Mountains will still be a shield 

from the passing winds and the bourgeoisie — 
will still use cultural institutions to maintain power 

in capitalist societies. In that same year my mother
will no longer remain silent. She will raise her

gaze and ask the sky to deliver her from the red 
dust that bathes her feet. If only it would obey.

Dr Nick Makoha is a Ugandan poet and playwright based in London and founder of Obsidian Foundation. His new collection The New Carthaginians is published on Penguin. Winner of the 2021 Ivan Juritz Prize and the Poetry London Prize. In 2017, Nick’s debut collection, Kingdom of Gravity, was shortlisted for the Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection and was one of the Guardian’s best books of the year. His poems have appeared in Poetry, the Cambridge Review, the New York Times, Poetry Review, Poetry Wales, Rialto, Poetry London, TriQuarterly Review, 5 Dials, Boston Review, Callaloo Birmingham Lit Journal and Wasafiri.