…..
The Dream of Being Together
….
We have officially forgotten Sunday, when after
church, we cheeky, American-born children once
devoured seasoned saltfish with savory johnnycakes
and drank the red sorrel and goat water our
Caribbean Grandmothers left for us on islands of
elbow-greased windowsills uptown in New York City
…..
We have forgotten how frozen palm trees
garnished our row house rum punch. Sunday
night metropolis-moonshine. Family jammin’
barefoot to Christian and Un-Christian Calypso
on the polished, living room dancehall floor
…..
Who knew that one day most of us could only
dream of being together again, breaking breadfruit
inside sacred and profane row house sandcastles
loosely built beneath the Big Sugar Apple Stars
…..
This poem is from the chapbook City in a Seashell by Tiffany Osedra Miller (Finishing Line Press), and can be found at https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/city-in-a-seashell-by-tiffany-osedra-miller-nwvs-180/
City in a Seashell features a selection of Caribbean-American Carnival poems, literary sketches, fables, elegies and vignettes evoking personal expressions, memories and ancestors of Antigua, Jamaica and the mystical island of Gabinda. These poems come from an urban-tropical soul, a grieving American daughter of Caribbean parents who have gone on to that magnificent Carnival in the sky, leaving her an immigrant to every island she can find replicated in her city streets.
Tiffany Osedra Miller is from New York City where she teaches poetry and drawing workshops. She was a finalist for the 2020 Calvino Prize and her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Threepenny Review and Palette Poetry.
The Paddock Review 