One of the most inspiring people we met during the creation of BRABO LEONE is the South African writer Ronelda S. Kamfer. Her poetry was a major source of inspiration. The poem SPOORSNYDERS was written especially for the project, after several conversations with Sarah.
Trackers (Ronelda S. Kamfer)
my body is not my own
it belongs to my ancestor
a woman who chewed on a man‘s words
My body does not belong to me.
they say my ancestors
were trackers
they could smell the scent of a month‘s worth of food and clothes.
in a grain of sand
when I was little the white people said:
your people‘s feet are harder than those of the European‘s
I agree
white people are known for walking on clouds
my auntie said:
the curves my hips are making are saddlebags
a woman is armed and dangerous
then she laughs and rolls her sleeves down to hide her bruises
on her arms
my other auntie said:
the women in our bloodline‘s breasts swell
after our twenty-first birthday
it‘s as if Mother Nature wants to tell us:
you are made to carry heavy things
My body does not belong to me.
I soaked my feet in Epsom salt and bergamot
to make them soft
I starved and humiliated myself
until my grandma called me
and she warned me: the s on the tag of your clothes
stands for snake
come home
and eat out of my hands
come and drink with your aunties
from the bottles full of words
that will make you pretty
My body does not belong to me.
It belongs to my ancestor, a woman who meditated on the words of a man.
and one day when you stand back
you will see that you carry them
all with you and they
were not heavy at all