Benkum Art

Still Turning

A woman in an indigo blouse and a brown-and-cream lappa sits behind a wooden tray of red scotch bonnet peppers in three heaps, her right hand holding a single pepper still green near the stem just above the centre heap, her left hand resting on the tray.

Everything on the tray is ready except the one in my hand.

The Shine Holds

A young woman in a plum bazin dress sits on a low stool in a dim cement room, her hand resting on her knee, an oil lamp glowing on the floor beside her and a dusk street lit beyond the doorway behind her.

Someone beat this cloth with wooden mallets until it shone. Tonight I just sit in it.

Where I Remain

A seated figure in a light dress rests in a dim courtyard, with patterned cloth across the ground, a lantern nearby, and several figures gathered in the distance.

They were still speaking as though I hadn’t answered.