You turn to the side and your lower body says
“Who are we if not extensions of ancestral tears?”

And you want to tell it 

“No, 
it is Baartman now that sits at the top part of my buttocks and this time,

the show is ours. It is her and I. We are centre stage and we are the audience. Front row seats. We do not turn around and cry this time. We spin and we dance. The sun stays up longer and we do not pay the price with our blood.”

You want to tell it

“Rest. This is no longer a fight. 
Sara comfortably lives where my love for the jiggle – I do when I wear my jeans – becomes my religion.

Rest. This is no longer a fight.”

Linathi Makanda is a writer and artist based in South Africa. She is the author of the poetry collection When No One Is Watching and has been featured in Poetry Potion and 20.35 Africa, where she was a part of their New Poet Series. New Plains Review, an online publication of the College of Liberal Arts of the University of Central Oklahoma, featured her visual, Seasons, which combines elements of art direction, poetry, and videography. Additionally, this body of work was selected to screen at the Lift Off Online Film Festival in the UK under the Short Film category. Among the platforms she has appeared on are Hear My Voice and Busboys and Poets.

*Image by Nkululeko Mayiyane on Unsplash