“Carnival Sunday (Open in Eden) by Steve Whittaker

Carnival Sunday (Open in Eden)

Bare-bellied flirtations flux in formation
Miraculous sweet wine not found in psalms
Process and surpass Palm Sundays
Fanfares more full than fans blaring in summer heat

Immediately legendary
Clash of Island girls and New York nymphs
Long-time disciples of the bandstand
Versus Fordham Road fashion rack mannequins

Ah dehydrated and dying for some cum union
Shouts the reigning Queen of the band
Eliciting praise from her electric eclectic
Echoing the entendre of our modern day lore

The hiss of spectators feigning piety
Can’t beat the boom of J’ouvert speakers
Their roadside porcelain expressions
Trebling like steel drum G’s under thick stick rubber

Kaleidoscope strafing asphalt
resizing and changing colors:
Eden reopened and remixed.

Steve Whittaker is a 5th year doctoral student from St. Kitts-Nevis. His work has appeared in Potbake’s anthology Jewels of the Caribbean.