Castle of my Skin

excerpts from Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s “Decolonising the Mind”

photograph by A.B. Godfreed

deprived of the use of his language
Nyaangwĩcũ is danced on one leg
cut off from his people
‘an impulse’, ‘an unrehearsed’ act
of ‘personal’ generosity
to cut all links with this homeland

neo-slaves, are openly announcing
the theft and robbery of the nation
home even more divided
an instrument of colonial policy
leg, ear, tusk, tail, side, trunk, belly and
words beat all fictional exaggeration

alienation takes two interlinked forms
full-time prostitutes and petty criminals
museum-type fossils paraded as African culture
the modern novel in European languages
effected through politics

how do you saterise their utterances
and claims
fact on the rooftops?
perfect beauty?
even as it is given birth
by that very toil and turmoil