Dorothea Smartt (African Writers Abroad) joined the C Words closing Party and Benefit for the Canadian Indigenous Tar Sands Campaigners live via Skype. She performed her specially commisioned poem, A Sense of Denial, together with several other poems written specifically to the C Words season and inspired by the issues raised.

A Sense of Denial

Denial looks black, panelled, silver-edged
and gleaming. Car-washed in water
enough to quench a dying village’s thirst,

a Hummer, petrol guzzling in a London traffic jam.
Its darkened windows seal out the day’s cool breeze,
to keep in an Air-Con fool, a lone driver in his third car
the one that’s just for fun! The tred of the rubber
tyres bouncing me back to trees tapped
of their strength to let us breathe.

Denial is the clicking of a million light switches
going on as the sun sets in the North (and scorches the South).
A single home lit by countless careless bulbs,
the hum of its appliances on stand-by. While
clicking fingers coat the keys of a Playstation,
and a car chase roars from the DVD on the plasma screen,
while someone else plugs into a symphony of jungalist beats.

Denial is the burning smell of toast,
a third round of single slices under a gas grill.
Or the blackened burnt out wreck of once Ogoni land.
Stepping out into the city’s morning traffic fumes,
smog clogging a child’s breath, inhaler at the ready.
Stopping to pick up the rich roast of coffee in a Starbucks mug,
and an over-sized, under-nourishing Big Mac for lunch.

Denial is tasteless, with a dash of MSG making all falsified
flavours more amplified. Even the blandness of the water-fat
injected chicken, with enough legs for everyone.
Coated in orange crumbs that were never bread.
Garnished with a mutated modified tomato, ever-fresh
and tasteless on the tongue, plumped in polystyrene buns.

Two poets from African Writers Abroad were commssioned to respond to the C Words season. To craft the poem below, Simon Murray (Sai MuRai) borrows the title of Dorothea Smartt’s poetry workshop “Full Circle” and draws upon some of the many words, phrases and themes that arose throughout the C Words season. The poem was performed live at the closing Party and Benefit for the Canadian Indigenous Tar Sands Campaigners on the 28th November.

*warning* contains language that some may find offensive

FULL CIRCLE

(for Jane Trowell, Dorothea Smartt & the C Words Family)

proposition I

enough words!

let us move forwards,
but let us look backwards
fly like Sankofa,
this world is for turning

full circle
back to nature,
back to origins,
back to Mama Afrika,
back to Mother Earth (Asase Yaa)

connect
re-connect
to the womb-an
wombanise our world
re-capture, reclaim our world
re-capture, reclaim our words

proposition II

reclaim the c word
reclaim the cunt from the cokkks
vagina monologue,
vagina dialogue,
vagina plurilogue.

ken, kenne, können – be able, can
– deep sense of profound knowledge
where knowledge resides
ja, ihr könnt – yes, you can
ja, ja, ja – yes, yes, yes!
ja, ja, jah, rastafari
sellasie-i,
i an i

one love
one peoples
one consciousness
connection, full circle
ya ken?

proposition III

know yourself
know the ledge
test the edges
embrace taboos

reclaim the cunt from the cokkks
never mind the bollocks
be literal about clitoral
cunning linguists

clit on tip of tongue
labia on lips
life-affirming,
life-giving,
flowing,
wet,
cunt,
the source, origin, full circle.

ken, kenne, können,
knowledge, power, womb-an,
language is power
knowledge is power
words sound power
c words, hear words,
reclaim words
reclaim power

vagina plurilogue:
embrace taboo
utter: “cunt”

proposition IV

come full circle
come together
cunt. cock.
ying yang
creation

c-words, g-spots, a-spots
come
multiple positions
in multiple ways
in multitudes
multiplicity
millions
billions
of options

we are the ones we have been waiting for
trust in the power of the population
never in optimum population trusts
power to the people
man. womb-an. child.
holistic trinity,
power to produce
re-produce
re-distribute.

proposition V

let the Iron Lady rust
seed bomb the car-cass
kill TINA, embrace TABOO,
there are billions of options:

open up air-conditioned capsules,
open doors, open windows,
open up art and activism
open borders,
open minds.

fly like Sankofa,
unclip cormorant wings
connect carbon generations
practice art and dissent at home
put the fun between our legs
walk in the woods, slow–ly
aim to change the world

auction away artefacts
sue governments
experiment against enclosure
close the banks
reclaim the commons
build social centres
smash the centre
decentralise
de-compartmentalise
desk-killing minds.

climb ladders unsupervised,
say “shit” in speakers corner,
take a shit in the gallery,
breastfeed babies,
drink water,
drink tea
eat forbidden fruit
touch the exhibits
touch. taste. take. create, re-create, participate.
write back at the madness that surrounds us,
break down the Palace walls.

proposition VI

kill TINA, embrace TABOO, there are billions of options:

create cross-cultural, cross-continental connection,
connection without commodification
critique creative economy
controversial conversation
conscientisation.

circus, carnival, converge,
commons, communality,
communication,
common-wealth,
compost.

cabbage, cauliflower, carrot,
celery, cumin, coriander,
cous cous, curry,
cup o’tea.

comrades, citizens, co-operatives,
come together to create
community — co-mutiny

critical mass of convivial consensus,
cultivating confidence in creative capacity
crafting contraptions against climate chaos.

campaigning, critiquing, constructing, considering,
cooking, clowning, climate-camping,
challenging, confronting, cycling,
co-operating, collaborating,
co-realizing.

realize, re-member, re-connect
come full circle.
come together
come as we are
radical in our natural beauty.

come
cunts
cocks

cuddle.