The Sun Rises From The South....

THE SUN RISES FROM THE SOUTH

the arrogance and the machismo
of the italians
the cockiness and the swagger
of the argentinians
the braggadocio and the contempt
of the portuguese
the superciliousness and overconfidence
of the russians
the chest thumping and assumptions
of the french


all suddenly evaporated, all vanished
all gone, all swept away

by the incredible footwork
the surprising charisma
the enduring persistence
of the koreans, the senegalese
and other lesser southern lights

i chuckle as i observe
racist british commentators on canadian television
choking, swallowing
their dismissive pronouncements
on asian and african football
that they so freely dished out only hours ago

the cinderelas have refused to go home
the side show acts have grabbed centre stage

the six o’clock news
is dominated by the revelry in seoul, kwangju and pyongyang

no italian flags this evening
on st laurent and other parts of downtown montreal
no blaring car horns along yonge street and st. clair west in toronto

but there is a party happening all night in korea town near the christie subway
and the african drums will not be silenced in cote des neiges, notre dame des grace
eglinton west, don mills and north york

tonight we hear the clash and bong of the korean drums
tonight we dance to the pulsating rythms of the djembe and tam tams
and sing along to the melodies of ismael lo, baaba maal and yousour ndour
tonight we celebrate the coming of age of african football
tonight we cheer the wake up call from asian soccer
tonight we thumb our noses at the colonial powers
who have poached so much of africa’s and asia’s talent

tonight we howl on them to bring it on.....

the one true champion we all hold in awe is still in the race
so let’s not get ahead of ourselves
brazil composed of
so much of africa and aboriginal turtle island
and of working class hungry youth from
the teeming favelas
brazil is the one to beat
ronaldo, rivaldo roberto carlos
dunga and all the other dazzling talents in the famous yellow
make us relive the glories of the famous peles and tostaos

suddenly for me,

the world cup has become
even more interesting

composed by onyango oloo
montreal, 7:13 pm
Tuesday, June 18, 2002