Fingol: A Caribbean Libretto

Overture Jalousies up Jalousies curtsy askew Pink bougainvillea leap into view Picture a sun Picture a sea Figure a wind at hurricane season      ∂ ∂ ∂ Gretel's parents had to take a trip Far up north Had to get on a plane and fly Away So, Gretel went to stay With her Granny, Catherine Who lived in a house At 9 Turkey Lane Jalousies winked Jalousies clapped 9 Turkey Lane In Roseau, Dominica There was grandpa Aunties and uncles Hugs and kisses And plantain chips There were hellos---my she's grown What you feeding her smiles We'll send for her soon Don't cry Goodbye Mommy and Daddy flew Far up north Gretel couldn't see them anymore Even when she squinted her eyes What she could see was The man who lived next door Mr. G He was not a very old man Not a very sweet man But no one told Gretel the truth About Mr. G Not even me Gretel liked two things To suck her thumb Play with her bellybutton Stand at the window and sing Mr. G Mr. G look I have my chicken bone One day I'll be flying home Look-nuh see all the world was made for me Jalousies fluttered Jalousies flicked One slow fan batted an eye At slats appearing To shudder n' stutter Open sesame! Then, One day Mr. G Invited Gretel over for tea Granny let her go Gretel was only three And Mrs. G was never home For tea and hidden biscuits Gretel oh Gretel Where could they be? Mr. G would task her My biscuits? My bonbons? My sly diabetic's basket? Under our chesterfield's vinyl pool? Atop my lemon-oiled walnut Staircase open chest of drawers? In the lap of a sleepy phonograph? Hump-a-bump Hump-a-bump Horsey goes over a hill What's that I spy under your skirt? What currant? What button? What plum? My raison d´être! My raisin of ether And he'd breathe her Nibble her biscuit Instead of sweet tea He'd feed her his tongue Gretel was three Didn't like the cud of his tongue Nor the wet-fowl of his hands She told Granny No and scolded her skirt Next time he invited for tea He fingoled me. He fingoled me. She told her grandmother plainly So plainly the woman forgot Everyone forgot. Aunties forgot. Uncles forgot. Her parents up north never knew. Her grandfather was at work on sweet afternoons What was a neighbor to do? Everyone forgot even me And agreed to more tea At nine more tea at fourteen More tea each time The plane brought Gretel south over-seas Jalousies blinked Jalousies yawned Jalousies slept in this fish-gut rose-water town Picture a now Picture a then Figure a poem unraveling at the hem When, when, when Twenty-seven years later At a kitchen table In a country far up north Granny Catherine plucks from her basket The lost planet Of Gretel's own pomegranate word One girl-child's forensic dialect Demeter's redemptive hunt-and-peck FINGOL Six stuttering moths in a lamp-lit mouth An elliptical orbiting sound: singed wings, bruised rind Black thread spooled six times round my finger One drunk constellation I wasn't dreaming I really did go to hell      ∂ ∂ ∂      Coda      To all you hugging      Your chin to your knees      Remember