of all foes, the slavemasters faced
none was as dogged as rhythm
music is the curator of grief
how
do you stop a woman from moving
who has never known stillness, swaying
even to the syncopation in her cry, I
have a grandmother shaped like a flute
voice hoarse, from years of grating silence
some songs are wordless, too big
to fit the mouth, pulsative enough
to ripple through a lineage, do
you think the devil was banished
for having too much pizzazz
too much rhythm in his bones, I
know the songs of our grandmothers
are cyclones upsetting history, I see
it every day on TV
how my childhood songs
are being recast
into forbidden
incantations.
Pamilerin Jacob is a Nigerian poet & mental health enthusiast. Author of Memoir of Crushed Petals (2018) & Gospels of Depression (2019); he is a staunch believer in the powers of critical thinking, Khalil Gibran’s poetry & chocolate ice cream