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Callaloo 23.4 (2000) 1310
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Mnemonic
Berkley Semple
The unshorn blacksages growing over the fence
Tell of a Portuguese family, the Da Silvas, who molted
By black seeds and time in our dark village, abandon
Their home in a caravan of cabs that left our fertile soil
For Portugal. Now blacksages vault the poles
Of spiked paling staves and louvers with dusty downcast
Lids give the bungalow its gothic flair. Wild tanya thread
The verandah. I remember Ursula leaning out the window
Then. Ursula who climbed sapodilla trees with me
In dark Calcutta and her pale breasts topped with wild cherries
I have teased with my tongue. I remember the scent
Of coconut oil between her pale thighs where my lips
Have kissed by the sheep pen's banging door, six or seven
Times, maybe more, I cannot remember; but then, as now,
Copra drying on rice bags in her neighbor's yard
Scented the breeze with memories to oil the creaking wheels
Of redundancy, and Ursula leans again.
Berkley Semple is a middle school English teacher in New York. He received the MA degree in English at Queens College of the City University of New York.
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