The Poem Built From Legal Records

Zong! is a book-length poem composed entirely by erasing words from a 1783 court case document. It creates a haunting narrative by speaking through the silence of enslaved people whose lives were lost at sea.

The book tells the story of the Zong massacre, where dozens of enslaved Africans were thrown overboard to claim insurance money. M. NourbeSe Philip spent years carefully removing words from the original legal transcript until only the poetic evidence remained. By stripping away the clinical language of the court, she forces the reader to confront the human tragedy hidden beneath cold, legalistic pages. This act of artistic reconstruction turns a historical grievance into a powerful act of mourning and memory.