The Poem On Slavery Poem by nicky kelly

To write the poem on slavery
a word-prisoner should
I worked hardly in the intensive room
From the dull morning to the broad night
yet the chains are there and I ‘m not better.

Came from the ogival forest
the lion with me honest
but didn’t spell his name well
the poem mumbled - 'In vain
you’ll take your mane' -.

A moment, a moment
you’d trade my Alma Mater
my elders’ boiled ashes
my personal witch
my speech

ebony and ivory across
my enriched world and the poor yours
what I missed and you lost
the self-control and the impulse
you desire I renounce

and the dol-drums in tow
after you and my soul
no natural docks
out the right place, in another song
because your beauty is wrong

the saviour in my luggage
will return into silence
my wild leisure to trouble
the calamus to the words
chains loose and clench.