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Self-Guided Tour 1987 I, having seen Soweto thirty years ago, When it was still Orlando Township, feel no need To reinvestigate, and while my traveling Companions are negotiating for a tour, I tour the Jo’burg Stock Exchange: the Ur-Transvaal. Anglo American, Crown Mines, De Beers . . . The quotes Are writ in chalk; they speak in gold and diamonds. Security is lax; outside on Hollard Street Are Afrikaner guards, but in the gallery For visitors I could assemble tear gas bombs, Explosion of which might or might not jolt the shares. The second Sharpeville riot hardly made a blip. Three of the runners on the Floor are Indians. Transvalers, one presumes, as they speak Afrikaans Among themselves. The Traders are, predictably, Illovo, Parktown, Wanderers. I know the look, As I observed their blazers as they left their cars. Their drivers seem to have, decades before cell phones, Communication. How else draw up to the curb On time? Diversifying one’s portfolio Means here no more than buying into platinum. “Diversity” means so far only Boer and Brit (At home it still means Johnny Reb and Billy Yank, Though we do not admit it). Thunderclaps at four Serve as the closing bell; the limousines queue up. And, flashing in a darkened sky—Rand in the sky?— Gleam out the golden veins; until the blue-white hail Comes down in crystals up to seven carats. Where 49 You are reading copyrighted material published by Ohio University Press/Swallow Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. Are you Antwerp, now that we need you? I waste time Around the corner at a tribal herbalist’s (If you prefer, witch doctor’s, or a dagga drop) With kilted Cape Town Scots, two Bantu constables, A probable shebeen queen, and a Durban imam, To wait out limo traffic and the thunderstorm. Wind chimes and ostrich biltong dangle by my head. 50 You are reading copyrighted material published by Ohio University Press/Swallow Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. ...

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