Limbo

…in the dimness of pitch oil
lamp light
you close your eyes and ask
“Pee-cé mash line?”
“No,” your contender says….after school,
during recess time
plaid skirts twirl on one leg
ribbons, ruddy colored ribbons
dangle from unraveling hair
devoured by the day.

…old women infectiously go to church
curry yellow bonnets
bob to the Lord’s prayer
a cockroach runs down
starched yoked Sunday best dress.

….an island of interruptions
common syllables
sing song accentuations
tourists love to hear.
Undetectable chains
crackling stones
beneath each word.

…lost in the belly
of an eyeless hurricane.
What do you call it
a tropical depression or bliss?
Red eyed cutlasses run amok
chopping off limbs
fallopian tubes and umbilical cords.

…from the wound of explanation
Kaiso, Soca, Tambo-Bambo
hemorrhaging rhythm
awakening the waistline with verse:

Yes! wine resist!
Yes! wine resist!
Whatever trouble!
Come what may!
diaphragms have more memory
than history books.

…the shriveling cries
of premature babies

…limboing
triangular time.