Mr. Africa Poetry Lounge!
Dinah in the Box
Dinah spent twenty hours with her face by the breathing hole, her body curled
like a nursing child's, wondering what order of thanks she would offer the man
who opened her crate. She had a particular trick that worked on Jennings
when she needed him to understand she meant to please, but Dinah wouldn't
be a bachelor's wench in Philadelphia. What angle would her legs take,
that first night in Philadelphia, in relation to the woman spot between them?
Not this infant's pose she was confined to now. Not any of the poses favored by Jennings.
What would her hands do, free to touch only what they chose? She had twenty hours
to remember every way she'd folded to get into this box. She'd tipped out extra brandy
until Jennings railed against the things he hated: taxes, drought, and abolitionists.
Turned out old Harrison, the carpenter, was suspected to be one. She tracked Harrison
and asked what price and means he'd name. Those two tasks proved more simple
than storing up the coins that slipped from Jennings' pocket to the rug beside the bed.
It took Dinah seven months to collect enough to buy the box and pay Harrison
for the bill of lading. Dinah touched her knees, tracing the hinge inside them
that would straighten in some white man's parlor. She wasn't free yet, but soon
a man she would make herself trust would prize open the lid of her crate.
Written by Camille Dungy
<----> SEND THIS POEM TO A FRIEND! <---->