This week’s Drop in welcomes, wonderful Belfast poet, Gaynor Kane, to talk about From Benin to Belfast, a poem from her stunning new collection Venus in Pink Marble, Hedgehog Poetry Press, 2020…

Nigel, thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about one of the poems in Venus in Pink Marble in your ‘drop in’ series. I know you have been reading the collection and I hope you have been enjoying it. It has been hard to choose which poem to discuss but I have finally decided to talk about From Benin to Belfast.

From Benin to Belfast Benin boy whittles under shade of oil palms and cocoa plants. Plagued by flies, wishing for a spare hand or tail to swish, like the bony cattle. He’s told it is a great honour to prepare ivory for the mask that will adorn Oba’s hip. Elephant blood…