Morning coffee
takes me back
to the archives of my childhood
my grandmother
her dibélwè
constant as her morning prayers
brewing café nwè
from home-grown coffee beans;
waking us at 5
when the feisty scramble
for mango la rose,
mango dou-i-dou
had ended with their season
and there was no reason
to jump out of bed
but morning coffee…
This morning
I am drinking
Nescafé.
•••
George Goddard is a trade unionist. Educated in Saint Lucia, Venezuela, and Barbados, he has had a passion for language and poetry since childhood. He shared the M & C Fine Arts Award for Poetry with Mac Donald Dixon in 1988, and is compiling his first collection for publication.
tongues of the ocean 