Writing Assignment #2

Fluidity of Perception 

Water follows no solitary rules. It does not know of good or evil, or act upon justice or injustices. It knows and follows the wind that directs its movements, the mouths of those who thirst, and the bodies of those it nourishes. Water exists within the natural grooves of the earth and within the boundaries of human allowance and action. It can sustain the lives of those who seek it, or be weaponized to cut life short. Humans, however, are supposed to follow rules. We are allegedly governed by our laws and by our morals, yet we act upon our justifications, desires, and interpretations. Humans express malignant utilization of perception. In “Zong! #26” m. nourbeSe philip investigates the lack of a central narrator through her intentional repetition of “was,” her introduction to cause, and her immersion of the reader in the oceanic environment. Each segment of the poem can be read through the lens of multiple narrators to depict the impact of human perspective and encourage consideration of culpability. 

The word “was” is repeated 54 times throughout “Zong! #26.” The context in which the word is used is crucial to the development of the poem’s call for accountability. The poem states “was the declaration” (line 10) and “was destroyed” (line 11). These two segments address actions taken upon the enslaved. The poem also includes “was the could” (line 5) and “was the necessity” (line 7). These segments position themselves as explanations for suffering. The varying uses of “was” segments work strongly together to illustrate a vivid image of the event. They place the reader into different roles and require the reader to experience the rain, the perils, and the costs for themselves. The reader is on the ship, struggling to find footing on the thrashing sea. The reader transitions into the crew as they read about what “was the policy” and what “was justified” (philip, 2008). philip creates a holistic experience to provoke further examination of responsibility. The separate uses of “was” allows the user to challenge their idea of who is suffering as a result of other actions, and who is suffering as a result of their own. 

philip begins the poem by introducing causation. The first words, of the first line, state “was the cause was the remedy” (line 1). The reader is being told something was the cause, and something was the remedy, but the reader does not explicitly know what that “something” is. Introducing the essence of motive ambiguously at the beginning sets readers up to assess the poem as a judiciary. Each line in the poem is therefore read with an underlying sense of indictment. Each experience and segment exists only within the lens of judgement and justice. philip does not clearly define who should be held responsible for causing the perils (line 3), the loss (line 5), and the destruction (line 11). Is it unclear if the poem is trying to place responsibility on the captain or the rough seas and skies that led the ship astray. Blame is not clearly defined until the last line where philip states “negros was the cause” (line 13). This ending expresses the justification for every action that was carried out by the crew on the slave ship. In their vision, it was not the captain’s fault for taking the ship out, or the crew’s fault for the mistreatment of the enslaved. Their justification is placed on the color of skin. It’s placed on the different lifestyles, customs, and systems that were incomprehensible to those who profited off of enslavement, suffering, and eventually death.

philip mirrors the fluidity of water and its impact in “Zong! #26” through the lack of punctuation. The poem’s lines are made up of the word “was” followed by words that construe an action or feeling on the slave ship. philip repeats this process without punctuation, without considering if the line will end on “was” or a descriptive word, and without any obvious structural rules. A line in the poem reads “was the could was the would was the policy was the loss was the” (line 5).  The rhythm of this line is unfaltering and does not have a clear ending. It takes active effort for the reader to determine what philip’s intentions are behind each descriptive word. The reader is searching for a conclusion, but philip does not provide one. There is no clarity for the reader, just like there was no clarity for the enslaved on the slave ship. The enslaved could not see the sky from under the ship deck where they were required to reside. They did not know if they would survive their thirst. The lack of punctuation also works to emphasize the repetition of “was.” This unceasing repetition takes on aspects of a wave when the poem is read aloud. Each segment of “was” creates an auditory rise and fall, similar to the noise of crashing waves on a restless sea. In this way, the poem allows the ocean to serve as its own narrator. The “water” can embody deprivation or represent the water in which the enslaved were thrown into. The fluidity of the lines and word choices in this poem creates apprehension. philip places the reader into turmoil with each word to embody the turmoil felt by each enslaved person. 

The question of justice is portrayed in many ways throughout “Zong! #26.” Examining both the tangible and implied uses of “was” strengthens the imagery of enslaved suffering. Introducing blame as an overlying theme investigates integrity. philip’s unwillingness to be confined to an easily identifiable structure is reminiscent of the enslaved’s confinement. philip formulates questions around justice by submerging the reader into the event itself. She cultivates different interpretations of the narrator to challenge readers to separate justice from individual perception. We cannot know if personal justice was given to those who chose to embrace the sea to escape the voyage and future suffering of generations. There is no consideration of justice in the eyes of the enslaved who were unwillingly tossed into the ocean for greed and profit. We are unable to question perceptions of justice in those who lost their lives. The question of justice for each of the enslaved will be left unanswered as they exist in the depths of the sea, cruelly washed away from any platform, any community, and any opportunity to have a say in their own fate.