Dem. Rep of Congo

a history of disappearance

by sarah lubala

A short collection of the most beautiful, tender poems dealing with displacement.

Sarah Lubala writes about the idea of Disappearance in its many forms, via her lived experience as a political refugee. Since her family fled the Democratic Republic of Congo amidst political unrest, Sarah has lived in South Africa, the Ivory Coast, The Netherlands, and China. She writes: “I was raised on the Congolese-gospel/I can teach you how to forget/where you are from/to worship the wide road before you/hands open/like this:/make each palm/a letter/to the sky.”

The Dregs of Love

The morning mist comes

and she tends her grief,

the noose of puckered skin,

the empty beds,

the rooms,

swollen beyond words.

Dear-one,

What can be done with this handful of leavings?

I am only a girl, you see;

ashy-kneed, singing mass hymns,

mango juice on every dress.

I came up thin,

strained across three countries;

the world’s deepest river is in my blood.

I have nothing to give you

but the blood in my fingers,

the life of my hands

that come in from the wilderness,

they come from a far-off place.

What to Say to the Immigration Officer When He Asks You Where You Are From

Say you left in a hurry,

say the days stumbled blind,

say the high grasses, say the raw-boned women feeding babies in the field.

Say the belly of the dry season,

say the lash of the earth,

say you swallowed whole countries,

say you spit only ash.

Say you were twenty-two in all,

say half were lost in the first week,

say you prayed to die young,

say you lived on and on.

Sarah Lubala is a Congolese-born poet. Her family fled the Democratic Republic of Congo two decades ago amidst political unrest as militant factions tried to overthrow the dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. Her family relocated first to Cape Town, South Africa, then Abidjan—the capital of the Ivory Coast—before returning to South Africa and settling in Johannesburg. She has since spent her life in various parts of Africa, Asia, and Europe and believes her self to be from here, there, everywhere, and nowhere.