for Nicolette, Margot, Rachael,
Erin, Jonathan, Bryan and Leah
i.
under the weather this week
the week will come when I’ll be
when we’ll be,
under the earth, unable to get out
unable to get up
under the weather,
I can, in time, be up and about again
on my feet again
we can, afterwards
get together again
ii.
if cut eye cudda cut
I’d be in as many pieces
as beets, tomatoes, carrots
I’d be in bits and pieces
for soup or supper
cut in pieces, cut to pieces
if cut eye cudda cut
iii.
she is incongruous with here
is contempt too strong a term
for what I sense she thinks, she feels
about this place, situation
her affair with her lover has landed her in
wants to be/has to be here as well as elsewhere
situation does not produce, provide
fulfillment
must seek it in books to read
in yearning to get abroad
to further her education
these local standards not her standards
cannot afford to be trapped over-the-hill
or too near to it
aggressive about getting away
with books to read
or laboring away
on her lap top
iv.
10 ties into/in two positions
are there ties actually inside
what has been Junkanoo pasted
pretty paper, pretty colors
fringed exactly as costumes on Bay
on Boxing Day morning
these ties hang from The Hub ceiling
like nooses, like pieces of clothing
hang from lines
each attached to a question
about Junkanoo, about culture
about being Bahamian
I wonder if such a country
such a citizen exists
on the face of Earth
among its seas, oceans, continents
ties to hang in if yur tired a livin
v.
impossible it seems,
in this world, to abide or to survive
without someone
on the other side of the divide
on the net’s other side
to play with, to fight with
as if it were impossible
to get along, to get anywhere
without someone without end
to defeat, to sword fight with
to duel with, to do it with
© Obediah Michael Smith, 2009
Written between 5:45 p.m.
and 8:43 p.m. Sunday,
December 5, 2009
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