I put the TV on mute

Liberation Poetics
Written by Joanne C. Hillhouse

Photo of a sugar mill at the Betty’s Hope plantation in Antigua by Sarah-Anne Gresham, Intersect Antigua-Barbuda.

I put the TV on mute

What was she talking about

Oh yeah

Bonded labour

Slavery

In our 21st century

And I couldn’t be bothered

So next time I’m moved to

Wonder

How could the enslavement of my

People have gone on for so long

While good people went about

Their lives doing nothing

Sweetening their tea

With our sweat and tears

As though

It was normal and okay

This

Parody of life

This hell on earth

This crime against humanity

And they were human

Being robbed of the dignity

Of a life self-defined

I need only

Remember this

That as she reported on

Bonded labour

Slavery by another name still

As bitter

I put the TV on mute

Joanne C. Hillhouse

Joanne C. Hillhouse has published 8 books of fiction - 4 of them children's picture books, with another one forthcoming. She is an Anthony N. Sabga - Caribbean Excellence arts and letters laureate and former, inaugural Intersect Artist-in-Residence. Joanne was a finalist for the Burt Award for fiction for Musical Youth which, along with her debut novella, The Boy from Willow Bend has been taught in Caribbean schools. Joanne is the founder of the Wadadli Youth Pen Prize which from 2004 nurtured and showcased the literary arts in Antigua and Barbuda.

A trained journalist, she freelances as a writer and editor, offers workshops via Jhohadli Writing Project, blogs books at jhohadli.com, and pens the OECS and Caribbean Media Award winning CREATIVE SPACE art and culture column, now exclusively available at patreon.com/jhohadli 

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