savage

is so 
man stay 
savage

so dem 
wretched
and raw

so dem
nyam up
de lamb

as dem 
roll out
de law

so dem
bawl out
fi blood

as dem
wash off
dem hand

is not just 
so 
dem stay

don’t is why 
dem name
man?

Copyright © 2024 by Pamela Mordecai. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on June 27, 2024, by the Academy of American Poets. 

Subscribe to the Poem-a-Day Podcast 

  

“‘Savage’ comes from ‘de book of Mary Magdalene,’ which I’m now writing. It’s the fourth book in my tetralogy of performance poems, written in Jamaican Patwa, about the life and death of Jesus and what follows. ‘Savage’ is Magdalene’s post-Crucifixion characterization of ‘man’ (Patwa collective for men), and there are indirect references to the story of Calvary. Called ‘Apostle to the Apostles,’ regarded by some as essential to the development of Christianity, Mary Magdalene is a fascinating, controversial figure, both a saint and a seductress, a devoted companion of Jesus, and a womanist, like him. Blunt, outspoken, and fearless, them no take no foolishness …”
—Pamela Mordecai