Touring a Tour

            In Melvin Dixon’s Tour Guide: La Maison des Esclaves, Dixon narrates a tour he took of La Maison des Esclaves, the House of Slaves, in Senegal. The House of Slaves was the last holding point for slaves before they exited overseas. The tour in the poem works on two levels. In it the author not only recounts his experiences of the tour to us, but gives us a thorough tour of the building, its history, the tour guide, the tour itself, and people’s reactions to the tour. He takes us on a tour through the present and past of the building, and in this sense, he encompasses more history than the tour guide at the memorial himself. The past of the building is frequently referenced, with bold, harsh imagery such as “men traveling in spoon fashion, / women dying in afterbirth” and “we stand in the weighing room / where chained men paraded firm backs, / their women open, full breasts, / and children, / rows of shiny teeth.” (Dixon 2-3, 27-31). The tour guide is described similarly: “His guttural French is a hawking trader. / His quick Wolof a restless warrior. / His slow, impeccable syllables a gentleman trader.” (Dixon 18-22). He also paints pictures of reactions to the memorial: “We take / photographs to remember, others leave coins to forget. / No one speaks / except iron on stone / and the sea / where nothing’s safe.” (Dixon 47-53). Throughout this poem, the reader feels a mixed bag of emotions from uncomfortable to eerie, all of which further the author’s purpose of letting us experience what he did. With all of these factors combined the author paints a powerful portrait of a harrowing reminder of the past.