i was beaten in the key of revolt & bongo
unmelodic & bright i didn’t start as a bowl
but rather cries trapped in the husk of tamboobamboo
from the hands of slaves captured by French creoles
a lineage of mallets ponging against brake hubs
looking to soundtrack the street call me a vibes vendor
flattened accents the inside of trinidad’s belly
pangs along the rim & within the guts of the gauge
selling noise by the gallon the panmaker punches
grooves along my skin so one note doesn’t bleed into
the next like picking out the best parts of a bad scream
(im sure if I beat pan it goh sound funny & strange) ＊
in the band riding a scar across a young man’s neck

＊ Taken from an interview with Lord Kitchener for Caribbean Insight TV

Contributor Note

Sean Des Vignes is a Beinecke Scholar and Goldwater Fellow at New York University. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.