Tawana Watson
Lagahoo Culture (Part 1) by Brandon O’Brien in Uncanny Magazine issue thirty-five, is an intelligent play on metaphorical descriptions starting with the title; Lagahoo culture, in which the Lagahoo is a mythical monster.
As I read the poem, I felt that Lagahoo culture is a metaphor for Black cultures across the diaspora, therefore as I read the poem, I imagined the issue of the racism that is faced by Black people throughout the diaspora. I pictured the narrator as a Black man speaking about his experience in a society that does not welcome him, but sees and treats him less than human:
Like we not man enough, mad enough, made of sturdy stuff
As the poem progresses, I felt the narrator’s frustration with being looked upon as a societal problem and not given the benefit that every man should receive:
I am the sound of you ignoring the sound.
I am the sound of you saying you thought it was something else.
I am the sound of you saying why you go fib on
Somebody who just trying to make sure you could live the kind of
Life I didn’t ever know? I am the sound of expensive things
Breaking only for you to learn you neer owned such a thing.
I am the uncounted step of the staircase, the tree branch you
Didn’t notice
In the black culture in the United States of America, many admit to being ignored or unheard especially when it comes to issues happening within the black communities. The above lines using metaphors show how frustrating it is to not even be noticed or have a voice especially when it directly affects you. The narrator continues throughout the poem to plead his case only to be ignored repeatedly:
I don’t get to be remembered, so I don’t get to be
buried, so I don’t get to die. So you don’t get to forget.
As I reached the end of the poem, I felt that the narrator's mission of trying to get recognition began to waver on him. The frustration and passion that was felt in the middle of the poem began to fade and the only thing that the narrator could do was offer a simple solution to the problem:
All you have to do is admit it and keep still
Brandon O’Brien’s use of metaphors in this poem was done brilliantly and used in a way that did not reflect a political agenda. The metaphors clearly diverted the reader from the main point of the poem in a subliminal way which gave a voice to a message that is often unheard and ignored.
Tawana Watson is a fledgling writer and poet in speculative poetry with a focus on afro-surrealism, horror, and true crime. She pulls a lot of her inspiration from anxiety and depression since she has been diagnosed with these disorders and lives with these issues daily. She is very curious about normality and what normality is and incorporates that in her writing. Her articles have appeared in the Call and Post Newspaper, Cleveland State University Student Newspaper and the Cuyahoga Community College Newspaper, and a host of blogs. She is a member of the SFPA and a minority mental health advocate, currently residing in Cleveland, OH.
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