-
12. little sarah
- Temple University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
LINDA SUSAN JACKSON 12 little sarah in 1810 lured by false promises of pounds or francs for her village she was sold into licentious service stolen from south africa exemplifying hottentot virginity with labia minora reaching halfway to her thighs elongated by self-manipulation or weights solely for prospective husband’s pleasure she was mockingly named/ hideously displayed as “the hottentot venus” captivating cultured capitals of europe where there was an insatiable appetite for the exotic her fawn-colored opaque skin which easily reflected the ardent african sun offered no reprieve from the raw persistent dampness of london town or dim dank days in gay pareé imagine her led out like a bear on a chain by nefarious showman into bogus reproduction of her village twirling on makeshift pedestal four revolutions per hour twelve hours per day legs opened on the drumbeat fleshy mass hidden under her hottentot apron revealing fantastic sexual possibilities to hot eyed voyeurs who misunderstood cultural vanity from a spectator’s safe distance spiral/coarse peppercorn hair could not hide her rheum-filled eyes mistaken for provoked tears of pleasure as “peeping toms” with rimy fingers touched her genitalia for an additional fee far from her pastoral past with cloudless night skies homesickness hung heavier than her tarpaulin tent she lost her appetite for food sinking under a pall of despair how long can a khoikhoi virgin survive without the natural sweetness of tsama melons or wild cucumbers? she lived in paris no longer than vegetation on the kalahari never again to squeeze the orange river’s rich soil between her toes heart broken/inflamed released from this life in 1815 but not from exhibition her preserved genitalia still float in a bell jar in “le muse de l’homme” in paris Credit: This poem originally appeared in African Voices, volume no. 7, issue 9 (Winter 2000/2001): 25. ...