I do not know the name
of most of these plants and flowers
growing here; but I know the croton
sitting broad atop time-rusted branches
lining the yard like a border.
I know the Leaf of Life hidden in the corners
at the top of the steps leading into the yard,
flat thin leaves ironically swollen with unction.
I’ve also heard of Search Me Heart
but have never seen the literal symbol
of its healing property.
………………………………But I have felt
The heart-thump of its rebuttal.
The deliverance of its diagnosis.
The unknown remedy in its elixir.
The time-freezing warmth of its guzzle.
Another world within our reach.
•••
Nicholas Damion Alexander is a teacher of English and Philosophy. His works have been published widely in Jamaica and abroad, including sx salon, Caribbean Voice, Auckland Poetry, The Black Collegian, and the Calabash anthology So Much Things To Say. He earned a 2008 fellowship to Calabash International Writers’ Workshop, and in 2011 was featured on e-Buffet’s online magazine Postcards from the people of Earth.
tongues of the ocean 