Poem, “Weeding,” published in Tertulia Poética Mundial, Argentina, 2020

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Poem, “Weeding,” published in Tertulia Poética Mundial, Argentina, 2020

I have been an immigrant for most of my life. I was born in Antigua and Barbuda, then a British colony and grew up in the US Virgin Islands. After completing my studies in the US Virgin Islands, and the United States, I immigrated to Liberia (West Africa) where I lived until a civil war uprooted my family of five. My family and I lived temporarily in London, UK until we found a permanent home in Switzerland.

 The poem, “Weeding,” is one of many poems I have written in an effort to recapture and explore my immigrant experiences.  Weeding is defined as (1) the removal of unwanted plants from (an area of ground). (2) to remove an inferior or unwanted component of a group or collection.

“Weeding” was published in Spanish this month in Tertulia Poética Mundial. TPM is a digital anthology, edited by Beatriz Carmen Ruiz, and is based in Argentina.

Weeding

( Elementary school, the early 60s, US Virgin Islands)

We assemble in rows by class

in the sunny schoolyard,

wait for an announcement to be made.

We tease, poke fun, pull silly faces

as soon as the nuns turn their backs.

The ticker-tape of anticipation

flickers on the edge of mental surfaces.

But smiles turn to scowls when the unmasking begins.

Non-residents, “Aliens” are ordered to step aside,

are exposed as the weeds between flowers.

A divide is born, walls go up.

The lens through which

we see the world now tinted.

© Althea Romeo-Mark 2016

Spanish translation of “Weeding

”Desmalezzando

(Escuela primaria, principios de los 60, Islas Vírgenes de EE. UU.)

Nos agrupamos en filas por clase

En el patio soleado de la escuela,

Esperamos que se haga un anuncio.

Nos molestamas, nos burlamas, hacemos morisquetas

Tan pronto como las monjas se dan Vuelta.

La ticker-tape* de anticipación

Como parpadeos en el borde de las superficies mentales.

Pero las sonrisas seconvierten en ceños  fruncidos

Cuandos el desenmascaramiento comienza.

A los no-residentes, los “extranjeros”

Se les ordena dar un paso al costado

son expuestos como las malas hierbas

entre las flores.

Nace una brech, se levantan muros.

El lente a  través del cual

Miramos el mundo, ahora  está teñido..

*cinta de teletip

© Althea Romeo-Mark

Traducion-Liliana Susana Boyle, Buenos Aires, Argentina

TERTULIA POÉTICA MUNDIAL BCR es una PÁGINA que comparte material recibido a través de una convocatoria específica. NO ES UN GRUPO donde la gente comparte material en forma directa. Si les interesa ser publicados solo tienen que solicitarnos la convocatoria.

Second-hand Homelands

There are always lines

we must stand in 

at airports and ports,

borders and check-points,

charity shops and schools

that separate us from others

“the born here,”

like sheep and goats.

Laws divide and shame us.

Our will are the legs we stand on

as we suffer in snaking queues,

dare to demonstrate

our desire to improve our lot.

The Headlines of daily papers

across our globe demonstrate the

stories of fruitless sacrifices

we make to seek safe passage

across oceans, seas and borders.

The deadly outcomes fall on deaf ears

fed on the fulfillment of dreams.

What matters, after arrival,

are stories our children will hear.

They are stories that crush or

build backbones of steel.

Second-hand homelands

are gates to havens.

They are hand-me-downs

too big, too tight or itchy.

They can be ill-fitting,

suffocating, alien things.

And recipients, for long,

have no say in the matter

of fitting in.

© Althea Romeo-Mark 2014, 

Althea Romeo Mark writes poetry, personal essays, and short stories and has been published in Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, The Bahamas, Barbados, Colombia, Germany, India, Kenya, Liberia, Norway, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, U.K., USA, and the  US, Virgin Islands. Her last poetry collection, The Nakedness of New, was published in 2018.