‘Sex on Moto’, ‘The Moto’s Cubby Hole’, ‘Ouaga Cowboys’ & ‘Catching Up With Friends’

Michael Raqim is a photographer and writer based in Texas. He began practicing film photography in 2004 and later moved on to digital format. He is currently working on a photo book called "Dreaming in Monochrome."

Preface Note:

Located in West Africa, Burkina Faso (formerly known as Upper Volta) is north of Benin and Ghana and south of Mali. Ouagalais refers to the people living in Ouagadougou, its capital city.  

Ouagadougou is known as the premier motorcycle city in West Africa because motorcycles are the major means of transportation. In fact, Burkina Faso is called “the African capital of two wheels.”  Out of Ouagadougou’s 1,62 million population, as of 2015,  765, 477 people owned a motorcycle. So almost one out of two people own a motorcycle. There is a hierarchy of Ouagalais transportation; walking is on the bottom, followed by bicycles, motorcycles, cars, and then chauffeured cars. 

Burkina Faso was colonized by the French, so French is a dominant Western language there. Note, French words in the poems will have footnotes with their translation on the bottom of the page where the poem is. 

Watching the Ouagalais on their motorcycles (aka motos) one can see a gamut of emotions and transportation scenarios. I hope to give you a glimmer of the roads in Ouaga. These poems were based largely on my time living in Ouaga from 2018 to 2020.

Bonne route!

Sex on Moto

It’s one or two a.m.

They are parked by the dam.

An old homeless man watches

the fire in a large can

several yards away from them.

She has a red mini mini skirt.

He sits as if driving,

and she straddles him,

facing him.

They pull towards each other-

she pushes up and away 

from the dam and bridge, 

aims for the fire 

with her hips.

He pulls her to him 

to land down again

and again.

Her hair,

hips,

and that oh so tiny space

void of fabric.

The moto stares across 

the dam, 

wants to go forward

and forward.

The Moto’s Cubby Hole

Under the rider’s ass

is not only the seat,

but a storage hole.

Lift up the seat

and stash your treats-

like cigarettes,

peanuts, or an orange.

Hide away your 

extra pens and pencils,

spare change,

or that romance

novel Mom just won’t

have in her house.

Great place to conceal

a second phone

to the deuxième bureau

or keys to her house,

placed underneath

or inside your Bible

or Koran.

And remember,

first and foremost

to keep a towel

to wipe the dirt

off your seat

so your ass stays nice

and neat!

* deuxième bureau literally means second office but is used in West Africa to refer to a mistress

Ouaga Cowboys

Ride high in style with

shined shoes,

starched shirts,

and motorcycles washed

daily.

Ouaga cowboys press earbuds

in while they drive.

The music pumps them up

and their motos become 

thrones. They are kings

of the road, so

they jut their right knees 

out to the side

at 45 degrees,

and zoom by.

A gesture to say:

I claim more space.

I am large.

Check me baby.

I am cool!

Catching Up With Friends

She has her hair teased and highlighted.

She’s feeling good,

She’s made all green lights.

She’s right on time.

Then someone calls her name.

She turns to her left.

It’s him, the guy who made jokes

In chemistry. She smiles.

He remembers her name.

He asks how her exam went.

He says it is nice to see her.

She smiles and tells him he 

Better watch the road.

They move up to the light.

It turns red. He moves closer

To her. He says he misses chemistry.

She clicks and hisses, chiding him.

Someone honks behind them;

The light is green.  They both

Turn left. She waves.

He nods.  They wait for further

Surprises on the road.

Suzanne Ondrus' first book, Passion Seeds, won the 2013 Vernice Quebodeaux Prize. She was Gordon Square Review’s 2022 runner up winner for prose, the 2013 Reed Magazine Markham Poetry Prize winner, a 2017 featured UNESCO World Book Capital poet in Guinea, Conakry, and a 2018-2020 Fulbright Scholar to Burkina Faso. Her work delves into love, desire, different cultures, history, racism, body image, African fashion, and women’s sexuality.  Her forthcoming poetry book, Death of an Unvirtuous Woman (Finishing Line Press) from which these poems come, examines domestic violence and homicide in an1881 Ohio German immigrant couple from Wood County. Hear her read on her YouTube channel Suzanne Ondrus and find her updates on suzanneondrus.com.