Britain will look at the world,
with serious and dour face claiming:
“But we are the protector.”
“Without us who will preserve?”
As if there is some enigma
to the erasure of history.
Egypt revised, as if mummies
just went missing, or disappeared,
or were rare.
When the reason the mummies disappeared
was because the English aristocracy,
ate them…
Ate them.
ATE THEM.
As a cure-all or curio.
The people who ate a hundred graveyards,
want to tell you that they are,
a trustworthy custodian.
Colonial cannibalism.
Glossary:
Mumia is literally the ‘medicine’ that was created from grinding up and eating mummified human remains, but it was consumed recreationally as well and was considered rather fashionable.
Charl Landsberg is a transgender queer poet, writer, musician, and artist who’s work often focusses on issues of social justice, science fiction and fantasy, and sometimes just the bizarre facts of history.