THE POEM - Introduction to “ The Dining Table”by Gbanabam Hallewell. - SS2 Literature Lesson Note

The Poem

Dinner tonight comes with

gun wounds. Our desert

tongues lick the vegetable

blood – the pepper

strong enough to push scorpions

up our heads. Guests

look into the oceans of bowls

as vegetables die on their tongues.

The table

that gathers us is an island where guerrillas

walk the land while crocodiles

surf. Children from Alphabeta with empty palms dine

with us; switchblades in their eyes,

silence in their voices. When the playground

is emptied of children’s toys

who needs roadblocks? When the hour

to drink from the cup of life ticks,

cholera breaks its spell on cracked lips.

Under the spilt

milk of the moon, I promise

to be a revolutionary, but my Nile, even

without tributaries comes lazy

upon its own Nile. On this

night reserved for lovers of fire, I’m

full with the catch of gun wounds, and my boots

have suddenly become too reluctant to walk me.