On Taking a Lover

Where I am from, history continues to be a work in progress. Centuries of colonization shade and color our story. Collateral damage in the forms of a foreign church, form of government, approach to industry challenge us to relearn our identity as a nation and as a people.

And still, we remain infatuated our Western lovers long after they have left us behind, with not even a text message on our birthday.

This pantoum (a form poem) comes from that place.


On Taking a Lover (A Pantoum)

This is how you take a lover.
Build a church, write songs, mount a horse and defy territories
Find a country with lush greenery, plum fruit and abundant seas
Take the brown, black and yellow there, mix in your white to make marble babies, unbreakable

Build a church, write songs, mount a horse and defy territories
Ring bells, take the pulpit, introduce commerce, have them worship you
Take the brown, black and yellow there, mix in your white to make marble babies, unbreakable
Seduce them with your language, dizzy them into forgetting their own

Ring bells, take the pulpit, introduce commerce, have them worship you
Make promises of eternity, take their crops and bless them
Seduce them with your language, dizzy them into forgetting their own
Teach your babies to write only your letters, bury the rest into extinction

Make promises of eternity, take their crops and bless them
Keep your bed warm and comfortable, and everyone well fed
Teach your babies to write only your letters, bury the rest into extinction
Pick the offspring whose ear you own and call him President

Keep your bed warm and comfortable, and everyone well fed
Find a country with lush greenery, plum fruit and abundant seas
Pick the offspring whose ear you own and call him President
This is how you take a lover.