Congratulations! Your support has been successfully sent to the author
Redrawing the Map of the Known World

Redrawing the Map of the Known World

Published Nov 21, 2022 Updated Nov 21, 2022 Culture
time 1 min
0
Love
0
Solidarity
0
Wow
thumb 0 comment
lecture 81 readss
1
reaction

On Panodyssey, you can read up to 30 publications per month without being logged in. Enjoy29 articles to discover this month.

To gain unlimited access, log in or create an account by clicking below. It's free! Log in

Redrawing the Map of the Known World

 

 

Redrawing the Map of the Known World

 

The tower was the father I never had. 

Its topmost turrets are washed by maritime hegemony.

Like a frowning profile, I know

the Moorish balconies by their protrusions.

 

Little is known about my youth.

I studied mathematics and navigation as the times demanded.

An extension of my index finger,

auxiliary lines set off for the shores of

an appropriated spice trade.

 

On the twentieth of November a shoal of names

flared up and blazed across expectation.

As we rounded the Cape of Good Hope

under the Portugese flag, the Leonids

were staining the horizon turquoise.

 

What’s a pension, an estate, a set of spurs,

when you can name a river in Mozambique after copper?

What are four hundred women and children burnt to ash,

when you can hoist to the yardarm

a new, more lucrative era?

 

©Anna Bentley 2022 for the English translation

 

lecture 81 readings
thumb 0 comment
1
reaction

Comments (0)

Are you enjoying reading on Panodyssey?
Support their independent writers!

Prolong your journey in this universe Culture
Non à l'expression
Non à l'expression

Je n'ai pas les mots ou ils n'arrivent pas à sortir de la bouche. Peut-être est-il difficile de l'exprimer ou o...

Morgane Danet
1 min

donate You can support your favorite writers