Uncommon Banyan II: The Tender’s Call
An acceptance speech in verse upon appointment as inaugural Commonwealth Poet Laureate Delivered at Commonwealth Foundation, Marlborough House, June 12,…
what your God adorns is straight and white, expected.
otherwise, suddenly there’s more at stake.
your mother spasms
& your favourite jeans cannot look at you anymore.
cut fruit on a silver platter stops
& your black hair mourns the family photo albums.
you are phased out of your surname
& your bus home is a graveyard of knocked-out teeth.
just shame
& white rain dripping down your chin,
a bowl of rotting rasmalai.
Illustrator © Katty Laguette
