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| Photo from the Daily Express UK |
Picking Up the Pieces
(for my people in the Caribbean devastated by Hurricanes Irma and Maria)
They had rummaged
through scattered belongings,
picked up rain-soaked photo albums
blown off shelves,
and bits of a shattered chest of drawers
that held memories—baby teeth in a matchbox,
locks of hair and a photo in a plastic sack
from the first barbershop haircut
that showed the man
the boy would become,
and Grandma’s diabetes
and pressure medication.
Roofless houses now
stand like skeletons,
their crowns ripped by vengeful wind.
Scattered in the road—metal sheets,
branches, leaves, shoes,
a shredding rattan chair….
A neighbor’s belongings
lie in the alley
behind a stranger’s house.
A grey sky threatens another downpour.
Can’t it see they are spent
after Irma-Maria’s*battering?
They will gather mind and body,
dig deep into the marrow
to stay tiredness in its march,
so they do not break,
so others do not have to
pick up their pieces, too.
© Althea Romeo- Mark, 2017.
*Hurricanes Irma and Maria. People have now combined their names for literary purposes, e.g. Irmarie.
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| The Hurricane God |
https://antiguaobserver.com/barbudans-have-no-money-to-rebuild-pm/
https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/puerto-rico-crisis/over-139-000-puerto-ricans-have-arrived-florida-hurricane-maria-n818991
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/11/09/no-electricity-homes-ruins-reporter-goes-home-and-finds-misery-hope-and-resilience-u-s-virgin-island/826573001/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/03/hurricane-maria-dominica-recovery
And a trip down memory lane for some.
Caribbean Beauty Shop 1950s-60s
The beauty shop was down the road,
in someone’s yard, in someone’s home.
It was where you went
to wash and press your hair,
subject it to the curling iron.
It was easily be found.
You followed your nose to
the smell of singeing hair.
Coal-pots were filled with charcoal
in various stages of heat--dying white ash,
volcano hot, shimmering,
or jet-black, when the coal pots
were newly replenished
to keep the metal combs going
for hair straightening,
to keep metal prongs ready
to shape Shirley Temple curls.
Customers sat on low stools, benches, chairs,
heads of hair thick, thin, long or short,
their hands holding ears forward
to prevent an accidental searing
when an animated hairdresser
was distracted by gossip.
The satisfied admired their “dos,”
held up mirrors in the midst of smoke.
But do not let it rain after.
All would have been in vain.
The Cinderella hair story
ready to be told—
the hair turning back
to a frayed, frizzy bush.
© Althea Romeo-Mark 2017
Sometimes, all I need to inspire me to write is a blank Word Doc. a blank page or paper.
Althea Romeo-Mark
I love your work so very much - the windows and doors it makes and opens in the mind as well as in the heart - my dear Althea Romeo-Mark.
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