ILLARUN: THE CUTTING COMB
A grieving despondent woman reclaims her sex and power, through the mysteries of her bloodline.
——
On a plantation in the West Indies,
the real harvest is a viscous fluid, salty …. slightly sweet.
Imported ebony bodies made to grind, collude against their will
Black Kings reduced to watching their Queens milked
Masa sits and licks and licks and licks
This succulent carnal delight is entrepreneurial pride
and a rise for his …
There’s one whose juice tantalises the most
But an encounter with something mundane,
from the land carrying her real name
awakens a cosmic rebel ghost
Beat, Beat, Beat drums, suns, daughters eyes wide
Warrior memory rising
Is it enough to turn the colossal colonial tide?
—
An original story inspired by the life of Jamaica’s Nanny of the Maroons
Image by Davide Balduzzi
