Cow Pastor: Song Lines of Memory – the A-Line

In or around 1995, the Barbadian poet Kamau Brathwaite (1930-2020) bought a property, which included a three bedroom dwelling, in Christ Church, Barbados, in the vicinity of the international airport. Brathwaite referred to this property as Cow Pastor or Cow Pasture. Shortly after purchase, the Barbadian government informed him he could neither build on nor extend the premises, which included an old slave outbuilding. Among the reasons given was the proposed construction of a road related to the functioning of the airport. In an email dated March 5, 2005,1 which was circulated widely, Brathwaite pleaded his case to the public at large. Within the contents of that letter, which could be better described as a manifesto, he included a 9-point program which set out a two-pronged vision for the property: it was to be his place of residence for himself and his wife where he could collect and store his archives which had been scattered
— Read on alinejournal.com/arts-and-culture/cow-pastor-song-lines-of-memory/