Mothering, Meddling & Interfering
Rent from DeepDyve- Mothering, Meddling & Interfering
And There Are T’ings We Need Not Buy
church hats designer bags christmas lights nose rings/toe rings
other people’s hair …
ankle bracelets acrylic nails tattoos
spirits:
wine rum [End Page 133] gin weed crack cocaine
come … come engage in free spirits …
laugh sing dance wuk-up good
drink coconut water take a good bush bath pour libation to the ancestors
deliberate daily broker peace with the past work hard hard hard …
walk into the gleam of our bright star
buy t’ings to empower t’ings to pass on:
a plot of land a house
(formerly published in Interviewing the Caribbean 1, no. 1 [2015]: 115) [End Page 134]
Dis Village
“It takes a whole village to raise a child.” —African Proverb
it takes a village a town a yard
a whole yard
daquan mafia soca boy
tattoo littered bicepsgold chain embellishments
pants crotch crouchingon bony knee-bone
backside outside
weed smokin’beer drinkin’dice rollin’
unconscionables groovin’ to conscious reggae
coopin’ … who comin’ who goin’
waltzin’ tru windows [End Page 135] pillagin’ poor people’s sweat my crucian bracelet my rent money
oh god man
dis village is dis-easeddis village is dis-abled / incapable
of raising a concernor a conscience
dis village is drunk with the wine of the world …dis village will not raise my child
Entitlement
like a queen entitledto title & wealth
you are entitled
to free education free bus servicefree breakfast & lunch
unlike a queen … [End Page 136]
your life is not predetermined in wealthnor confined to title & destination
you are in transit
to dream to aspire to achieve to accomplish to rise to any occasion
to experiment: taste this—try that do whatever you damn well please reinvent yourself again & again
so my dear …
put down the nail polishthe acrylic nails
the false eyelashesthe asian hair
school is no project runwayno lovers’ greet & meet
put your head in a bookpick up a pencil
read / deliberate / decipher
school is yourall-inclusive entitlement
your 40 acres & a mule [End Page 137]
Coconut Trees
coconut trees are elitist
don’t put down rootsany & everywhere
not in brooklynnot in the bronx
not between crackscrevices or concrete pavements
coconut trees are cunning
have a t’ing for stunnin’ verdant venueslove to stretch & bend & sway
dance the horse chip …
bend down low to kiss the seastand up straight to face the sun
coconut trees are full of grace
blessed with cool nourishin’ sweetwater milk to drink meat to eat oil to cure a fresh cold or fry ballahoo in straw to weave a fine basketbuttons for a nice cotton blouse [End Page 138]
coconut trees are callous
dropping nuts as deadly as a drive-by indifferent to human life dangerous to meander under full full of themselves couldn’t care less
coconut trees are capricious
coercing metee old women like ms darling & ms lettsome who know something about life & sufferin’ to be vigilant in their motherin’ meddlin’ & interferin’
to shoo away school children from playin’ marbles beneath coconut trees
(formerly published in Interviewing the Caribbean 1, no. 1 [2015]: 116) [End Page 139]
Cover-Up
when ledto believe
you comefrom nothin’
therefore are …
chances areyou tend to believe
so there are things you swallow& things you flaunt
like
14k-gold braceletsa tattooed cleavage
super-sized earringssuper-high stilettos [End Page 140]
skin-tight jeansother people’s hair
a coach knock-offa cheeky disposition
attemptsto cover up
the past duethe insufficient fundsthe inheritance: zero
all this palaverto present to the world
a simple presentimentof someone of worth [End Page 141]
Daily Devotion
my father left …
my father leftwithout a sigh or sign
his neatly folded newspaperunread
a steaming bowl of callaloountouched
unbeknownst to him
his foolish heart seguedunfazed
my father left …
seven childrenseventeen grandchildren
twenty-seven great-grandchildrena string-band of relatives & friends
one loving wife …
unable to recallthe preexisting condition
of their lovely life
but who by roterecapitulates [End Page 142]
her...
