The Captors Demand of Us an Anthem

1 Minute Read Time

An art gallery, emphasizing the painting Halayik, or Black Servant, by Pierre-Désiré Guillemet. The painting is of a Black woman with a flowered hat and a pink-and-white-striped dress, holding a silver tray with two teacups on it. — Photo by Hümâ H. Yardım on Unsplash

              Once      we had
                                                                    a flag

     we	         were	                 proud	       of. 

In this land	        we’ve lost our search

for a place	        to lay down	            the pain.

The flag	        waving	       makes our hearts sink.

                Half-longing,       half-dreading,

                               we recite prayers

                        should another day appear

                and find us choked with fear.

           Pleading.	    They whip us. 

             Sing	       from the heart!

               But the heart is 

               a black spider,

                flowering 
                 with 
                 rage.

Mildred Kiconco Barya

is a North Carolina-based writer of East African descent. She teaches and lectures globally, and is the author of four full-length poetry collections, most recently The Animals of My Earth School (Terrapin Books, 2023). She’s published in New England Review, Shenandoah, and elsewhere. She blogs here: www.mildredbarya.com.

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