Shambling around the dictionary’s X-section
revealed seventy-two entries, a treasure
chest of words, X scratching the spot. viz. xanthum gum:
a polysaccharide; and xeno: a slippery prefix
signaling guest, strange, and foreign. Absent:
X, Malcolm, and X, Michael, both of whose Caribbean
mothers migrated, one from Grenada, the other from
Barbados, their sons serving jail sentences, before
being struck from the book of life. Both badjohns
immortalized on film, Malcolm in a famous flick,
Michael in a documentary. But no dictionary
consideration for their mothers, except the craft
and harmony of immigrants. Iona, meaning dove, gentleness, and
Louise, meaning a warrior who stands her ground with courage.

∞

Justin Haynes is a writer and poet who was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, and raised just outside of it. He later moved to Brooklyn, NY, and then Atlanta, where he currently teaches English and creative writing at Oglethorpe University. His novel Ibis was published in 2025 and won the PEN Open Book Award 2026 and the 2026 OCM Bocas Prize for Fiction, among other honors.