THISTLE

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Written By Javanna Cumberbatch
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A certain time in the year near May

When all of the flowers open up their eyes

Parting their eyelashes to let the dew of the morning fall

And water the ground underneath their feet of roots

 

Peonies ceased in baskets made of straw

Weaved by the hands of those experienced

Bougainvillea in shades of pink trail up a wire fence

Spreading, running, skipping between diamond spaces

A little hand brushes against them off to play

 

Strung on the thinnest stalks that held blades of green grass up

To face the sun and catch a tan

Like popcorn necklaces, each stringed one after the other

Made with the delicate products of the creator

Flowers with petals of fuchsia for the little girls

Birthed from weeds

The ones with the little black seeds

 

A bracelet around the wrist, and a crown of flora to adorn the temple

Nested in their hair as they danced in the shade

Ring play

The girls looked beautiful and ripe

 

As for the little women, their time was up

This day was for the next generation to keep

And lock it away within their memories

Their hair now filled with gray but their smiles still bright white

Both thin and plump lips filled with the bliss that accompanied laughter

 

The firmament is still there

A touch of power and sovereignty

A sprinkle of essence

Royalty at our very core

Javanna Cumberbatch

(She/her) Javanna Cumberbatch is a product of a baby blue pillowcase stuffed with cotton. Lovingly. she was sheltered as a child, rather protected so that her morals, the things instilled from TBN and PBS Kids to name a few, remained intact. She was cradled with the soft still voice of her mother, and serenaded by songs sung. From her own lips at times.

The moments that she was let loose, was somewhere safe. The second home of her mother’s mother. An island ‘2 miles long by half mile wide.’ ‘Each square inch filled with pride.’ Whose waters ‘sparkle like a jewel in the sun’ to this day. Line fishing with a friend near the dock. Times cherished and long gone, but never forgotten.

She went to her first Junkanoo at the age of 21, but she was not unfamiliar with the sounds of cowbells, and the families that went for battle on Bay Street. ‘Gimme My Culture.’ The land of my home always giving. Sapodillas and mango trees everywhere you turned. A garden truly. Separated islands and cays, but under one name we pledge our allegiance. A real place. Protected and covered by grace. In its natural state it shall remain. The Bahamas.

Javanna is a student now at The University of The Bahamas. Afforded the opportunity to attend. Amongst other things she is a woman of few words spoken, but a young lady of many words written.

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Learning and Loving Pink
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Her Fate Decided