August 30, 2026
Wood House (Woold Homé)
Agbodrafo, Togo

(Read more about the Wood House here.)

Slave House

I hardly need to tell you,
an American
about slavery

But he did.

They stayed under the floor —
a space
the same height as the underdeck
where half of them would die
on their way to
their new life
in a far away place they could not imagine

The women getting some
temporary liberty
above the floor in the evenings

If you know what I mean

Then back below
for two, three,
maybe four weeks.

This was the master’s bed
his chair
his safe.

The German tourists
anxious to establish that
the rapes
happened before they came
to rape the country

Yes, it was the Scots.
then the Portuguese and the English

And, of course,
their countrymen

Because money is money
and people are just people.

My Togolese friends
did not know this
about their country.

Of course, I knew it about mine.

We crawled under the floor,
each squatted in the dark
thinking of the crimes of
our ancestors
much too recent to be
entirely forgiven