Greedy Cannibal
A greedy cannibal
from his abode in dry rugged mountains
is let loose
in the lush plateaus of a fairyland
his mind, deranged by menacing hunger,
begets a voracious infinite appetite
He devours and consumes
everything in his sight
He eats the most sacred
ever the most precious
He eats the forests;
he eats the land;
he sucks the bone marrows
out of Mother Earth
He eats women and men
gobbling up the old,
the young and the infant
He craves the youth and the grownups
But the littlest ones, he loves the most
Oh the littlest ones
with sweet milky blood
their crimson juice is his most delicious
their sweet dreams of the future,
he dreams to make his own
He wolfs all body parts
but oh he relishes the brilliant brains!
Oh the students, they are his beloved
as he fantasizes to make their brains his own
Lo and behold!
Fanon has captured this greedy cannibal
The brute bestiality of Marx’s cannibal
making a perfect blend
with Freud’s creature of the loving cannibal
This quintessential flesh-eater indeed
eats only those he loves
only the sacred ones
only the precious ones
whose desires he desires
and whose dreams he dreams to grab
But lo and behold again!
The more he eats, the fatter he gets
the fatter he gets, the more he craves
And the more he eats
the more he wants to eat
In vain, trying to sate
his insatiable greed
He gobbles up and gobbles down
He gluts on flesh and blood
Crocodile tears
rolling down his cheeks
as he devours his delicious preys
the dumb cannibal
knowing only to eat
has lost sight of
the sacred courage in the hearts of his preys
the courage he desires
is now in his face, devoid of his heart
Crimson blood is raging,
burning forests singing
sweet melodious songs
Mother Earth is shaking, the land is dancing
Enough is enough!
His preys chant in unison
Shocked and surprised
not believing his ears,
the greedy cannibal
looks hard with frightened eyes
and catches a glimpse of
the writing on the wall
his feared mortality
Yes, he sees it coming
The dumb fool cannibal
soaked to the bones with greed
Kills the goose
that lays the golden eggs
Losing all that he gained
in his ugly greed to gain all at once
eating his most loved ones
but devouring himself instead
Yes, he sees the end coming
His most dreaded moment is here
Terrified
of his own long shadows
He roves and roams the land
foraging, scavenging
rummaging for new tricks
Like the proverbial
thief crying “catch a thief!”
The cannibal bawls out:
“catch cannibal!”
but alas!
He’s used that one before;
he’s run out of tricks
his only abode is now insanity
Freaking and panicking
at the merest glimpse
of peaceful energy
The fire of his preys,
a playful laughter of kids,
fiery power of youth,
and the spirit of
raging grannies,
Come at him in unison
Sweeping him off his feet
But his most menacing
and his most repulsive
is the oldest woman
Mother of all mothers
Woman of all women,
the Raging Granny
Sprinting with her cane
The greedy cannibal is horrified by her
as he sees castration.
She emasculates him
she eats and devours him
Terrified of her rage,
pissing blood in his pants
He lumbers away,
too fat to run
With a half-empty head
and his bloating body
He now wants to hide
But the thorny thistle
offers no hiding place
His concrete forest locks its door on him
As he lumbers and roams
he steps in sinking ground
And starts to madly grab
at everything he finds
The more frantic he gets, the deeper he sinks
His bloating body is deep in the quicksand
and his bloody mouth is just now going down
Only his hands remain,
still wanting to grab
because they learned nothing,
nothing other than grab
but now they want to grab
at their own salvation
in the fiery spirit
of the Raging Granny
Happy Women’s Day 2016, Raging Granny!
The writer, Martha Kuwee Kumsa, is a professor at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, Canada.
