for Xaymaca and the like

Born to moss-colored nights, those above the ocean came to be
Named new guardians of the land, braided and weaved-
In; the cusp between yesterday and indefinitely. Soil
Pronounced itself holy despite all that it is now
Not, whispered in a creole of birthing and
Burning. Small island, ripe with fertility
That outlives its mother, elders stay
In the breeze, in this wood-
Water, sugared tomb,
Inverted pyramid,
River bed
Death

∞

AMARA is a London-born Jamaican essayist, poet, author, and wellness and travel writer. Her writings are reclamation and love-born. Her debut poetry pamphlet ‘The Opposite of an Exodus’ was published by Bad Betty Press (2021). Amara has been invited to share poetry at literary festivals such as Cosmopoética in Córdoba, Spain and at the USVI Literary Festival & Book Fair 2023. Recent poems have been published or translated in Wasafiri, The Caribbean Writer, PREE Lit Mag, Arcadia, Lolwe and more.