Sap-soaked Backs

Abstract

This work offers an unflinching portrayal of the absolute fear of enslavement. The fetishistic nature in which Black bodies and forms are simultaneously coveted yet scorned is taken to the extreme by dehumanizing the enslaved as their blood. With its archaic contractions and strict emphasis on rhythm, the meter mocks much of the tone of the overwhelmingly White literary canon. Truthfully, this poem is removed from the continuum of my work, in style, diction and meter, but it is a moving piece that poured out of me.