Slave Lodge, Cape Town
At the Slave Museum, they have made a column of names
perspex, eight feet tall
Domingo of Bengal
Sijmen Ham van Madagascar
Magdalena Smith
the historians have come with their tweezers and soft brushes
Maria van de Kaap
Mira van Java
newly forged names with a hasp and a hinge
circular names that lead back to the lodge
Moses van Macassar
January of Malabaar
pick up a white man’s story – squeeze it
harder – scour his account books, floor plans, his last will and testament
Maria van Ceijlon
Titus van Mallebaar
crack it open and the smallest Russian doll tumbles out
black female – bequeathed furniture, various household items
Diana van Krankebaar
Cornelia van Nan
the historians are clothing the stripped – their coat-hanger names
Manuel van Negombo
Susanna van Semesia
Johannes van Batavia
unnamed of Madagascar
no name of Angola
no name of Angola
Crinolines
Across the country, women flare like beacons
batting the flames with bare, white hands
screaming. A servant runs for water
scullery bucket – teapot – anything –
They’re left bedraggled, stinking,
blackened jackdaws on the grate.
Sometimes a sombre doctor comes
and the baby’s lost
and blinds come down over frilled rooms
like a layer of ash.
The Kindling 