Africa Speaks Reasoning Forum

A poem written during a visit to Martinique, an Overseas Department of France, in the West Indies. They have an extreme dependency-syndrome on France and in my opinion, it is a mere example of neo-colonialism.

Mental Portrait Of Martinique

She’s just another lady,
Just our tour guide,
But somehow I sense pain,
Dwelling on her inside.
She’s squinting right now,
As the sun shines,
But even through these lids,
I see a story in her eyes.

What I see is a soul,
Almost screaming out,
While emphasis of liberty,
Flows from her mouth.
In this country,
Faced with Imperialism,
Loss of identity,
Historical repetition.
Why appreciate first,
What is not yours?
When god-given gifts
Are shut behind closed doors.

In the eyes of the young here,
I can interpret,
An inner questioning,
Under the surface.
While young minds
Are ignorant to their oppression,
When made blind towards
The imbedded traditions.


********************

And today I continue this story
Upwelling with depression,
Of how peoples are submerged
Deep in their oppression
The young bones here
I use for inspiration,
Its effects are more visible
In this generation.
Blacks who don’t know
From where they have come,
After years upon years
Of unceasing serfdom.
And still unto years
These traits continue,
Invisible chains,
That never were removed.
Eurocentric values
Made into local ideologies,
Though thousands of miles,
Connected seas contain common psychologies…
- Anaya Jahzara