Poet of the Week: Seevana Raghubeer

Recipe for disaster (DO NOT try)

If you wish to be exotic, Let me tell you the recipe for sweet success Take a multitude of colonialism As much as you have and probably more than you can carry Scatter it all over your family’s history Spoon feed your babies and children and teenagers, A history that dictates brown folk to be enemy of the state Take care not to miss a single generation, lest they be forgotten Slip in words like dangerous, recessive, uneducated Label the men terrorists, shopkeepers, taxi drivers Pour the women into mainstream media as enticing, provocative and something new to try Bury this deep into your core, your ancestry and knead it into society so you can fight every day to prove your worth Grab fistfuls of micro aggressions about your hair, your skin, your size and stir in self-esteem that took years to build Spread lies that racism is not real and women of colour are not marginalised Sprinkle with gold and serve with a smile

This recipe usually takes years to prepare and will never ever be finished.