Landing of Columbus

 

The BOLD  text is from Middle Passages by Kamau Brathwaite. The regular unbolded text is my attempt at performing a close reading. Dr. Sherwood, let me know how I did 🙂

Columbus from his afterdeck watched stars, absorbed in water, melt in liquid amber drifting

This poem is obviously about the great Colombus the discoverer of the Americas. He is navigating and reflecting on the stars, the water as the sun is rising. This sun rising reminds me of when God said in the bible “and let there be light” and he unveils the world. It’s like Columbus is discovering the new “Eden”

Through my summer air now with morning shadows lifting beaches stretched before him cold & clear

The warm Caribbean breeze is blowing across the boat as Columbus sees the beaches of America for the first time. He gets a cold hard clear look at the future.

Birds circled flapping flag & mizzen mast. Birds harshly hawking. Without fear Discovery he sailed for. Was so near

Birds from the new world flap around the ship, squawking almost with caution. Fearful of the ship, which foils how Columbus is not fearful of this new land.

Columbus from his after deck watched heights he hoped for rocks he dreamed. Rise solid from my simple water

Again, Columbus is excited about his discovery… which he thought was asia. But it was something new… that is not the curious part of this line though. “Rise solid from my simple water”- who is our narrator? Whose simple water is this? Is this America speaking? Mother nature? A mixture of both? (It turns out, I later learn in the poem that it is a native American speaking)

Parrots screamed. Soon he would touch our land. his charted mind’s desire The blue sky blessed the morning with its fire.

Parrots screamed- as if in horror. As if they knew what was coming. Paradise is no longer lost and the west has found it’s way there. Soon he would land his boats and touch and feel the land. Getting to know it and planning what he would do with it… While it may not be Columbus doing the most damage, he would take knowledge of this new world back to Europe and many more boats would come… Despite this, the sky was blue and the sun rose… the end of the world was not here. However it is the end of the world as they, the parrots and natives who have not been mentioned yet, knew it. (The natives were mentioned, I just did not realize it until later in the poem)

But did his vision fashion as he watched the shore the slaughter that his soliders

Furthered here? Pike point & musket butt hot splintered courage. Bones

Cracked with bullet shot tipped black boot in my belly. The whips uncurled desire?

The narrator asks if Columbus ever imagined the future that his discovery would bring. When he took the information back to Europe, did he imagine that Europe would change the face of this new land? That there would be so much pain and loss, not to mention the death of native peoples and the enslavement of natives and later African Americans.

 

  During Columbus time in Haiti, he and his men hunted the Taino Indians for sport, beating, raping, torturing, killing, and then using the Indian bodies as food for their hunting dogs.

Source:   http://www.americanindiansource.com/columbusday.html

 

 

Columbus from his afterdeck saw bearded fig trees. Yellow pouis blazed blazed like pollen & thin

Waterfalls suspended in the green as his eyes climbed towards the highest ridges where our farms were hidden

Columbus sees paradise unfold before him. Did he see the civilizations upon the highest ridges? They obviously saw him observing the land he discovered.

Now he was sure he heard soft voices mocking in the leaves What did this journey mean. This

New world mean dis covery? Or a return to terrors he had sailed from. Known before?

I watched him pause

Columbus hears voices, in a language he does not know, but for sure he hears human beings communicating. He wonders if the people here are like the people in Europe. If terrible things that happen in Europe are happening here. Did he discover a new world or did he find a new Europe? He pauses wondering if he should continue on…

Then he was splashing silence Crabs snapped their claws and scattered as he walked towards our shore

Of course he continues, he traveled all this way. The crabs are the last line of natural defense and Columbus walks right past them onto the shore… A new beginning for Europe, but the ending of native America.