Knowledge Keepers

A poem by Helen Rana

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I am the knowledge keeper. 

The expert in this field

From a prestigious museum

I know more than anyone 

About this artefact

It’s a stick from a primitive tribe

From somewhere, made sometime

For someone, maybe someones

Possibly probably spiritual

Collected in Africa

By a rich Englishman

An explorer, seeker of natives

Imposer of meaning

Most visitors rush past it 

To take selfies

With the fertility god

They find amusing close by

Our people have French names

Legacy of the Belgians

Who succeeded the Germans

Shattering us into pieces of empire

This stolen staff holds knowledge

Culture, memories, skills

Far from its life force

Its purpose dissipating

Out of context, place and time

Rudely shown to anyone

Not just those who have

Taken oaths and sacred rites

Its power seeps away

Diminishing to a stick

It hungers to be recharged

Beseeching for rescue

Our lost knowledge keeper.

Helen Rana is a member of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, was a Creative Writing Associate at Bath Spa University in 2017-21, has a BA (Hons) in Communication & Media Production, and an MA in TV & Film Studies. Her short stories have been published in anthologies, and her eight feature and eight short screenplays have all been selected for film festivals or won awards. She lives in Bristol, England.