This is DoveTales, An International Journal of the Arts', first
online edition. I am elated to be a part of this milestone in this very
special, August 1, 2019, which is guest-edited by Liberian poet and Professor,
Dr. Patrica Jabbeh Wesley.
The journal features poetry, fiction, non-fiction, art and
photography from international writers. Specially featured are the works of
young writers who are supported and encouraged by writingforpeace.org.
Go to the link to read the editor’s introduction and enjoy the
work of all contributors. https://writingforpeace.org/dovetales-online-with-guest-editor-patricia-jabbeh-wesley/
The Theme of this edition is “One Word, One People” and
here is an excerpt from the featured editor’s introduction.
“This edition of DoveTales is a call on
all of us writers and readers to remember that we are indeed one people. No
matter our skin color or our geographic locations, we are “one world, one
people.” DoveTales: An International Journal of the Arts has always been
about the beautiful, sometimes sad or scarred, stories from around the world—about writing for peace, and speaking peace even in the midst
of world disunity or calamity. No matter what political leaders say or do, this
new online edition, as with past print editions, is a reminder that we are one
world and one people, and we must never forget that.”
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| RGBStock.com |
Life’s Catwalk
We walk the long
walk.
The world looks
on,
judge and jury of
style,
our stride, our
demeanor.
How well do we
carry ourselves
in the skin-tight
clothing nature gave us?
Our outfits
neither Gucci nor Prada,
are dictated by
climate and culture,
are indispensable,
not disposable.
We are clad in
white, brown, black,
and shades in
between.
Distinctive marks
are highlighted or hidden.
A mole on chin or
cheek, a sign of beauty.
Unsightly, a
blotched body lacking melanin,
or draped in a white
coat of Albinism.
Some colors are
never in season
in blinded corners
of the world.
We live, love,
give life
sustain our path
with will and wit
in sickness and
health
in sanity and
madness.
Our pigmentations
and frames
designated by DNA,
we walk this long
walk
in the eyes of the
world.
©
Althea Mark-Romeo 2019
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| Fotolia.com |
They stand before us
like potential buyers
of freshly caught fish.
Defenders of their shores,
their eyes seek out their version of our story.
Will they pull our eyelids apart, check our teeth?
Our worthiness is tested with peppering questions.
Salty threats thrown at our wounds.
The masks we wear hide fragile emotions,
brittle under hammering words.
They might have walked in our shoes.
Their stories locked away
in memory’s dungeon,
they have chosen not to see
the repetition of history.
The catch of the day at borders,
which asylum will we get?
Political or mental?
Will we be cast back into the sea
of uncertainty?
© Althea Romeo-Mark 2019
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| Hurricane Maria, Daily Express |
They Do Not Break
(for my Caribbean people devastated by Hurricanes Irma and
Maria, 2017)
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 Grandma’s
diabetes
and pressure medication
and 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.
Roofless houses
stand like skeletons,
their crowns ripped off
by vengeful winds.
Scattered in the road—zinc
sheets,
branches, leaves, shoes,
a shredding rattan chair….
A neighbor’s belongings
lie in the alley
behind an abandoned house.
A grey sky threatens another
downpour.
Can’t it see they are
drained
after Irmaria’s*battering?
They will gather mind and
body,
dig deep into 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 2019
*Irmaria:
name given to the two hurricanes which hit the Leeward Caribbean islands one
behind the other in 2017.
Born in Antigua, West Indies, Althea Romeo Mark
is an educator and writer who grew up in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. She has
lived and taught in the Virgin Islands, USA, Liberia, England, and in
Switzerland since 1991. She
writes poetry and short stories and has been internationally published. in the
Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, USA,
England, Germany, Norway, Portugal, Colombia, India, U.K., Kenya, Liberia,
Romania and Switzerland. Her last poetry collection,
The Nakedness of New, was
published in 2018. She has participated in International Poetry Festivals in Romania,
Kenya and in Colombia.
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