dead siege, and: Trade Matters
Rent from DeepDyve- dead siege, and: Trade Matters
dead siege
these dead sea salts soothe the skin: but not the heartthe ventricles falter as you soak inall the news uneasy pump na-blus, ga-za, & ra-ma-lah
and all the ziggurats of creamy soap stacked in a warehouse without industrycan’t wash can’t wash away
they too would float like blocky bodies on the minerals
pale convoy flotilla of olive oil a sea of soap
a million melting mesas bumping up whitening the map
the wind whips salt into your face encrusted armoury ludicrous to think you could defy the lawof gravity [End Page 74] the siege embankments attack ramps drones ma- sa- da-the twisty garrisons of history
the old men sleep in shattered olive groves
Trade Matters
copal coconuts beeswax ambergrisivory rhinoceros horn cowrie shell
(also known as blackamoor’s teeth)always be sure to check the teeth
for a slave to snore in sleepingis counted a very great fault indeed
make them run a little waythere should be no defect of the feet
a child worth a pound or twoin Zanzibar will fetch twenty in Persia
no-one buys an adult slave (domestic—wild from inland is a different matter)
their masters never part with themtill they are found incorrigible
but wild slaves though saleableare a source of lawlessness and robbery
the worst is the treacherous weatherthe tedium, the wearisome monotony [End Page 75]
every merchant hopes to leaveas soon as he can realise a tidy sum
every agent would persuadehis employer to recall him
Note
from The White Nile by Alan Moorehead (Hamish Hamilton, 1960) and the original writings on Zanzibar and slavery by explorer Richard Burton in 1856 and Captain Thomas Smee of the British research ship Ternate, who visited Zanzibar in 1811. [End Page 76]
Isobel Dixon grew up in South Africa, where her debut Weather Eye (Carapace) won the Olive Schreiner Prize. Her further collections, A Fold in the Map and The Tempest Prognosticator (Salt), are published in the United Kingdom. She cowrote and performed in The Debris Field (Sidekick Books), a multimedia show about the sinking of the rms Titanic.
