About Cocoyea

According to Cote ci Cote la: Trinidad & Tobago Dictionary cocoyea is, “The shaft of the coconut leaves on a branch. The dried fronds are used in handicraft, birdcages, building of Carnival costumes etc. The dried fronds are sometimes tied in a bunch making it a cocoyea broom, which is used for certain rituals, and for sweeping.”

The only ritual I associate the cocoyea broom with is the image of my mother bent over sweeping, and possibly beating me and my younger brother’s ass. But that was when I was very young.

By the time I was in my early teens, I could of easily forgotten what cocoyea meant if it wasn’t for a borough called Cocoyea in the city of San Fernando.

I lived in between two towns: Cocoyea and Marabella. If I ever wanted to get home from High Street (the heart of San Fernando), I needed to catch one of the Cocoyea maxi-taxis on the promenade, in front of the Library, or an around de town taxi. Sometimes I just walked.

I find it hard to understand or describe myself in the everyday process of living, so this “about cocoyea” is like a 3 year old photograph of my passport, terribly old and unlike me in the present. I chose it because that’s the part of me I can recall and maybe speak almost clearly on. Hopefully through this adventure, I’d have more to say.

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