(Inspired by a painting)
She lies stripped below waist Her
borders breached Her obsidian skin a
fit match Of conspiring night above
Which bore silent witness to her
terror
Her whites stare with rictus horror And tell
of whip and phallic riot By upstanding men
with daughters at home These they saw
afore they dimmed
Somewhere an owl hoots And in
sullen bayou toads croak And pesky
mosquitoes madly dive And trouble
they who troubled her so
Meanwhile on gnarled sycamore
above A well-slung noose which broke
her neck dead Dangles in broody
night
While behind her the little church burns
A sanctuary no longer There behold a
phalanx of klansmen Bow their hooded
heads And clasp pious hands and
heart To pray in perfect harmony.
“My poem ‘The Lynching of Eliza Woods’ is a timely reminder of the long history of suffering that black folk have endured at the hands of racists who are usually upstanding, religious sorts.“
Taffi Nyawanza is a Zimbabwean lawyer and writer who lives in the UK. His short fiction has appeared in Afritondo, the Voice:Untitled Anthology, the National Flash Fiction Journal, Kreaxxxion Review (formerly JHHF Review), PerHappened Mag and Kalahari Review. He is currently on the Exiled Writers Ink programme and working on his debut book.
His twitter handle is @tnyawanza