The Ghost of Nella Larsen Poem #22

No hole
for your
peg.

No
mother/
land
or father/
land.

No
name
 /color
except
in opposites
to your
home.

Margins
crowded
like rush-
hour
subway/
traffic

wondering--
when
those
pages
gonna
 let
me
in?


Popular posts from this blog

Bandit Queen Press is Proud to Announce Its Second Title!

Image
BANDIT QUEEN PRESS ANNOUNCES THE RELEASE OF GOOD WORKS A paperback collection of novel excerpts, short stories, memoirs, poems, song lyrics, original sketches, paintings and photographs by English-speaking women living in Denmark. GOOD WORKS can be purchased from ATHENEUM INTERNATIONAL BOOKSHOP, Nørregade 6, 1165 København K, tlf (45)33 126970. On-line orders at www.atheneum.dk FOR ENGLISH SPEAKERS phone the store or email books@atheneum.dk with their request!! Support Bandit Queen Press! “Refreshingly varied, yet with a common thread….10 women, all accomplished writers, celebrate in 10 individual voices the expatriate experience - in prose, poetry, images and song. A valuable, and enjoyable, addition to the literature of displacement and assimilation.” Heather Spears, award-winning Canadian poet “To leave one's home country can be an exhilarating and even frightening adventure that cries out for expression. Good Works puts words to the expatriate experience in all its frus...
Read more

Home.

Image
It's half-past twelve and the rest of the house is asleep while I work on my latest shawl. I can hear the frogs croaking outside and the breeze from the fan is cool on my otherwise hot skin. As I knit, I am reminded of the many evenings I have stayed awake in this house in Diamond Vale, while my grandparents were asleep, and I'd be up late studying for an exam I had to take at Providence Girls Catholic School or I would have been writing a story or something. Sometimes, I just stayed up late to watch television, and in those days, there were only two television stations! There is something about this house that holds me with so much love. Maybe it's the fact that I spent four years here, maybe it's because it's my grandparent's house, maybe it's because it's in the land of my ancestors - maybe it's a combination of all that and more, but I truly do feel at peace here. I was so sick when I was in Denmark. My job really stressed me out. My body felt...
Read more

Aya - put some respect on her name

Image
ayahuasca vine illustration imt *content warning*  describes the use of nontraditional methods of treating trauma and the use of psychedelic substances. this article is meant to educate and not as a prescription. by Lesley-Ann Brown I’m not a sociologist, so I’m not fully equipped to interpret what it means when a person or thing becomes a punchline to a Chelsea Handler joke, but I am sure there are worse fates. Still, when I heard ayahuasca’s name come out of her mouth, I felt a need to speak up for it like you’d speak up to a bully picking on your best friend. Although, in all fairness to Handler, the joke was funny, this time.   I’m using Chelsea Handler as an example here – because I know how problematic she can be. And the fact that I’m engaging with this name, is a testimony to the power of ayahuasca.   Full disclosure: I’m one of those annoying folks who refer to ayahuasca as ‘Aya.’ But according to the South African Black Consciousness Scholar Simmi Dullay, ‘Aya’ ...
Read more