TRADINGZONE_PUBLICATION_FINAL
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TRADING ZONE #5<br />
—<br />
When you talk of a horse and I talk of a horse<br />
are you thinking what I’m thinking?<br />
What about cheval, pferd, perd, zaldi, uma?<br />
What lessons can we take from the first Portuguese<br />
who offered up flintlock muskets<br />
and brass bracelets to the great Oba of Benin,<br />
captor of the sea god, lord of the leopard king,<br />
as swaps for pepper, tusks, honey-coloured coral beads?<br />
We hammer out our discordance–<br />
you on an old oil can, me on a freshly undressed<br />
pig pelt stretched to taut transparency–<br />
and pass through the clashing rhythms of change,<br />
the ceaseless charge towards a common creole<br />
that might, just might reveal<br />
what we’re sure we’ve always known:<br />
hidden within the fragile negotiation of our histories<br />
sits a reluctant victory for us both.<br />
14
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