On the Occasion of Britain (almost but not quite) Apologizing for Slavery

The Stranglehold of English Lit.

Felix Mnthali

Those questions, sister,
those questions
stand
stab
jab
and gore
too close to the center!

For if we had asked
why Jane Austen's people
carouse all day
and do no work

would Europe in Africa
have stood
the test of time?
and would she still maul
the flower of our youth
in the south?
Would she?

Your elegance of deceit,
Jane Austen,
lulled the sons and daughters
of the dispossessed
into a calf-love
with irony and satire
around imaginary people.

While history went on mocking
the victims of branding irons
and sugar-plantations
that made Jane Austen's people
wealthy beyond compare!

Eng. Lit., my sister,
was more than a cruel joke--
it was the heart
of alien conquest.

How could questions be asked
at Makerere and Ibadan,
Dakar and Ford Hare--
with Jane Austen
At the centre?
How could they be answered?