Trapped
My bones and spirit broken
Battered, bruised and slapped.
Words are unspoken
Inside my body trapped.
Hot Oil
It was while she was frying plantains one day that she had a thought. She recalled how her mother used to tell her that to get the best results, the oil had to be very hot. “That’s it!” she exclaimed.
Daughter of Eve
I desperately grasped for the light, the dark water swallowing me up. The voices mocking me. I couldn’t stop now.
THE WHITE ROOM
Everything was completely white. I was the only object of colour but for once that excited me.
Escape
Looking through this window
Drowning in a river of tears
My bruises begin to show
Silenced by my fears
New Names
We've fought then, we fight now.
Who kyah hear, muss burn. And I'm
tired of that being us,
Enjoy Vagina
You wish you could but how do you forget about a guy who feel like it is all right to walk around with the words “Enjoy Vagina” in coca cola font across his chest, as though it were another flavour the company brought out?
Sensory Adaptation
Colonialism never done, only adapted; they changed its mask. We see our leaders are nothing but puppets to the same masters. Spitting in our faces progressive rhetorics while doing their master's bid.
Brown Oceans
Do oceans that aren’t
green or blue…
Returning to natural roots
Representing how more black women have been embracing their natural hair…
Colourism and Good Hair
As a beautiful young Caribbean woman, I want to say that I love my hair in all its kinks and coils.
Fire in Her Eyes
She saw the spider crawl on the fading blue painted walls of her home. She timidly headed for the broom with the brush end facing the rather large, hairy, strange looking spider.
Unlearning anti-Blackness
It was only after my hair started to grow into its own, after my hair started to gain length that the attitude they had changed. It went from “yuh good hair yuh cut off” to “you get your hair from me; you know Guyanese hair does grow long and nice”. Recently an aunt said in conversation that Black hair can only grow long if you’re mixed with something... I didn’t feel comfortable hearing that.
Inner Child
You hold dark secrets despite your mild fame.
Filled with shame, you cringe when you hear your name.
You were born of light, however.
You
I stand before you with great adoration for making it this far.
I know you think you have not made a drop in the ocean
but to the greater world you have
They are too upset to say it to you though
Because how can one gyal have so much power?
What Lies Beneath the Skin
My grandfather called my hair was “too niggerish”
When my mother refused lye and hot comb
I told him my brown skin was a blessing
He admonished “Girl!
Watch your tone”
Radical Love
We learn to love the devils that hold the whip against us,
We mistake them as gods, accepting the laws they pass…
I’m That Girl
You may set a standard for her, but let me
inform you: This girl who stands before you
is more capable than what you or anyone
else thinks, and she can achieve things
higher than the stars and your expectations.
Beauty in the Unknown
Waking up today felt like any other day until I realised that I could not leave the house anymore. Wait, no, that is untrue. I could leave, but only for the essentials they say.
Broken Beyond Repair
A quarter section split in two,
Wide, livid eyes deep in life
Peers into the map of my tragedy.