LAND OF DRUMS

LAND OF DRUMS [For Phillis Wheatly]

Stolen from the Land Of Drums
Near the Senegal River
By enemy tribesman
For brightly colored cloth
Trinkets, rum, cowrie shells,
That determines status of a man.

Congo drums thump out the warning
Slave traders have come ashore
And in the rice fields chasing away birds
Dahobar would abduct you, your Mother
And your friend Obour for a debt
Fear swoops over you like a great bird.

African warriors drag the three
Of you through the thick bush
To the ocean’s rhapsody, Dahobar
His teeth gleaming haggles fiercely
Over his commodity like a shop owner
Leaves you with white men and imagination.

Two male captives jump over board
And are eaten by sharks, your memories
Die on the water like a grave
For the unforgiven. Close to America
They throw your Mother into the sea
And this new world will brand you slave.

Arnal Kennedy