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1810
You left a woman
Head high full of pride, dreams, and aspirations
Confident in your sexuality
You left Saartjie Baartman
You were fooled like the ancestors before you
Promised notoriety, riches, and jewels
Instead you became a specimen analyzed and poked with their tools
Those things that culturally defined your beauty in their eyes became a sin
Dignity gone you longed for home
But how could you return
1814
You were renamed
Treated like a wild beast not given the right to speak
Your keeper placed you in a cage and you were trained to move upon command
So ashamed you turned to drinking to help you stand
You became Venus Hottentot
They broke you
To survive you sold yourself sexually
Alcohol the most tangible way you could flee the confines of your reality
You left January 1, 1816
But even in death there was no peace
You to them were nothing more than property
Exploited in life and further in death
They carved out your genitalia
Pickled and placed it on display
They had your body cast in wax so it would not decay
March 6, 2002
You left Venus Hottentot behind and became Saartjie Baartman once again
Finally able to rest after close to two hundred years of distress
But the cycle continues on
She is Janeisha Doe
Her head had high in the sky full of dreams and aspirations but lacking pride
Awkward in her sexuality
Confidence absent
Unlike the ancestors she is not fooled
Being an animal on display is something she perceives as cool
She gyrates to her new titles
Bitch…
Hoe…
Chickenhead…
She lies with multiple partners to stay ahead
Drinking not because of shame but in her mind’s eye to gain self esteem
Beauty to her is found on TV and in magazines
She signs up to be part of the circus
She finds glory in the concept of being a video hoe
Saartjie Baartman…
Venus Hottentot…
Janeisha Doe…
The cycle begins without a keeper at the door
copyright 2004
Nzingah
Oniwosan |
