Drumming the Rivers

Denied the musical instruments
reserved to men, Zaire women
play the rivers like drums,
beating tempos on the waters,
chanting rhythms slapped on waves.

Without score, without concert hall,
without formal black silk gown,
beneath feathery palm silhouettes
they ply the shining surface, an arc
of droplets flying from their hands.

Over loads of laundry, foam bubbling
on bare arms in the African morning,
they do not discuss oppression. Fluid,
spontaneous, they sing the liquid words
and drum the vibrant pulse of liberation.

Poem for South African Women (June Jordan) quoted in Kathleen Fischer, Women at the Well.