SANGE<\/p>\n
We thought collecting black gold would make us truly free<\/p>\n
You do not blame a woman whose belly has been empty for fifty years<\/p>\n
If she scoops the sand onto which the gari has spilled<\/p>\n
Hoping to sift through later<\/p>\n
So as soon as we saw the tanker tipping over<\/p>\n
Agonizing<\/p>\n
Slow<\/p>\n
Like a tortoise that had fallen on its already cracked back<\/p>\n
Tyres spinning desperately in the air<\/p>\n
We ran to grab our buckets rusted to a brown that was indistinguishable from the earth that barely sustained and the huts that no longer sheltered<\/p>\n
Scoop scoop black gold that nourishes<\/p>\n
Thick oil gurgled like blood in the throat of a man dying bad death<\/p>\n
Spreading out a slow persistent stain that no funeral rites would wash away from our land<\/p>\n
But to our half-starved minds delirious with third-world hunger\u2014the kind that makes foreigners pledge ninety cents a week to send a naked child to school\u2014the gurgling was A song<\/p>\n
Into whose discordant melody we fused words of hope:<\/p>\n
School fees for my children<\/p>\n
White man is dead1for my wife<\/p>\n
Medicine for old and food for babies<\/p>\n
Black gold black gold<\/p>\n
Happy day this is true independence
\nScald scald black gold ignites<\/p>\n
Split-second the song is drowned a horrible death world cup screens melted shapeless plastic flash and boom boom flash it is civil war all over again murder by first degree burns no more rust buckets no hope for white man is dead no one to cry foul oil rushes like enraged bulls flaming river engulfs sweeps into an eternal sea sang qui coule sanguine though none will hunger or thirst yet shall there be weeping no gnashing for no teeth remain<\/p>\n
No<\/p>\n
No<\/p>\n
No<\/p>\n
Black gold kills black death<\/p>\n
The persistent stain soils my land like a baby neglected in a pit latrine thick liquid stain in which floats the solid black excrement of bodies<\/p>\n
Charred beyond recognition<\/p>\n
No our independence is burnt out<\/p>\n
Charred beyond recognition<\/p>\n
Like the profit they said black gold would bring\u2026<\/p>\n
By Annie Quarcoopome. Annie Quarcoopome writes at Black Looks<\/a>. This poem appeared there<\/a>. Thanks to Sokari Ekine, at Black Looks, for publishing and collaborating.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SANGE We thought collecting black gold would make us truly free You do not blame a woman whose belly has been empty for fifty years If she scoops the sand onto which the gari has spilled Hoping to sift through later So as soon as we saw the tanker tipping over Agonizing Slow Like a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[491,468,625,626,5057,624,597],"class_list":["post-681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-annie-quarcoopome","tag-black-looks","tag-conflict-mining","tag-conflict-resources","tag-drc","tag-oil","tag-oil-spill","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=681"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22270,"href":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681\/revisions\/22270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.womeninandbeyond.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}