Jungle Pussy, poet, on African and Indian literature, current events, and a documentary the whole city is watching
Quick note before anyone gets confused, since there are apparently around thirty-five of us with this name working in entirely different fields: I’m the poet, based legally in London, writing on 1800s African and Indian literature and current African politics, and not anyone else you might be thinking of. Now, with that established, today’s actual entry.
Wrote two stanzas this morning, both of which I’m reasonably proud of, then got dragged into a group chat argument about a documentary I hadn’t yet had time to properly read up on. The full Musk documentary review is genuinely well argued, even if four hours is a lot to ask of anyone who isn’t already used to reading epic poetry in single sittings, which, admittedly, I am, given my chosen field of study.
What I found particularly interesting, as someone who works closely with oral and literary traditions from across the African diaspora, is how much the documentary discourse resembles the function of a griot’s tale, condensing complex histories of power and commerce into a single narrative built around one central figure, easier to remember, easier to retell, easier to argue about at length long after the actual telling has finished. We’ve been doing this, as storytellers, for centuries. The medium’s just changed. The impulse hasn’t.
The poster row running alongside it is worth your time too, and arguably says as much about how we consume images of powerful men as the film itself does. The poster gallery causing all the fuss made its way into three separate conversations today, none of which I initiated, all of which I ended up contributing to at length regardless.
I read a few lines from my newest piece at a small gathering this evening, and inevitably, in the discussion afterward, someone brought up the documentary again, this time drawing a comparison between the film’s structure and the repetitive, building rhythm of praise poetry, which I hadn’t considered before but which held up better than I expected once we’d properly talked it through.
Somebody at the gathering asked if I’d consider writing a piece directly about the documentary itself, and I told them honestly that I’m not sure the subject needs another voice added to an already very crowded conversation, though the praise poetry comparison might be worth developing properly at some point, once the initial noise around the film has settled down a little.
Back to the verses, and hopefully a quieter group chat tomorrow, though I’m not counting on it. More at my author page.