Mosquito Rules (for my African boyz from the endz)
by Nii Ayikwei Parkes – taken from the e-book 'This Is Not A Love Poem' You think you’re so hard; like a diamond, geezer, like ice from the freezer, like a Greek brain teaser. You spend your time in the gym getting buff, smoke cigars to get your voice rough, you’re cut tighter than mini-skirt cloth; even your mom thinks your tough. You think you’re so hard, but you haven’t met me. You think you’re so cool; walking down the street with a perpetual high-five – your body temperature is like thirty-five (two degrees below normal). Girls throw themselves at you like bad karma, you’re more laid back than a snake charmer, snow will turn to liquid before you do. You think you’re so cool, but you haven’t met me I sent colonials running from gold to cold, so if you think you’ve got the cards, fold. I’ll treat you gentle, like American foreign policy, I’ll only attack when you disarm and attempt diplomacy. When your guard is down, when you think you’re about to get down, when you get naked, that’s when I’ll get you! See I AM the West African mosquito; my powers are stronger than veto I’ll have you screaming like your little sis when I insert my proboscis. I’ll give you fever like Peggy Lee; temperature like 100 degrees as you beg for leniency. You won’t be so hard when I’m done with you; you’ll be on a liquid diet, so hot you can’t sleep at night. And your guns can’t get me, and your bling doesn’t impress me. I’ll burn you like a bad joke, make you thinner than a wheel spoke – and, maybe, as you get delirious you’ll realise life is serious.