Tanicia Pratt
For Mary Pratt
All my chirren is leave aftee sometime an once dey does go dey does don’t come back sometime all a mine is come back yinno? sometime dey is don’t wan go til dey have dey own chirren and sometime when dey chirren have dey chirren yeah. but yuse don’t check fa me like dat man not like how yi use ta check fa me – I memba yi use ta mussy come roun every Sundee now it look like yi caught up in all kin’a teengs but I still happy I get ta see yuh oh I happy yi come cus dese chirren don’t come round like dat an I sure dey don’t even bring dey chirren yi eat? I tink I could find sum’m hea fa yuh yeah yi cyaan get too deep up in dese teengs soon I een gin be here an when I dead afta yi done been in all kin’a teengs yi een wan be cryin and hurtin up yi head yi still is eat fish? I tink snapper hea but I een know yi know fish gettin harder ta catch yeah. conch, snapper, grouperI memba yi use ta like when I bake grouper but I een know when last grouper catch fish een round like dat no more das cus dem people is be teefin da fish when dey small an everyday dey diggin diggin diggin fa sum’n new das why yi cyaan let errybody touch yi teengs but I gin fix yi sum’n, baby I so glad yi come ta see me cus I een been feelin too good yi know dis food don’t be no real food an I sure das why I does be havin pains das why I does say I een know how long I gin be round so make sure yi come check ta see me while I still breathin yi memba we use ta go ta da beach? yi was always scared yinno so I use ta hold yi in my hand yi ever learn ta float by yiself? I could show yi yinno if yi come back maybe tomorra maybe in da mornin or da late afternoon when it een too much tourist if yi come back hea I gin teach yuh I gin teach yuh jus how ta swim.
Tanicia Pratt is a content writer, poet, and performance artist from The Bahamas. Her writing is a form of memory, archived or unearthed, to depict the many selves of the Caribbean landscape. Pratt’s work has been published by the grace of Palette Poetry, PREE, POUI, Write About Now, Tamarind Journal, among others. She has performed at Antiquities, Monuments & Museums, the Central Bank of the Bahamas Art Gallery, and the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas. Pratt received her BA in Marketing from The University of the Bahamas and is studying her MA in Poetic Practice at Royal Holloway, University of London.
When the language be sing sing and beautiful it plays on the ears tickling the sweetness of the words like honey dripping on a plain dry thing that need something. Tanicia Pratt make words sing sing so when Gullah hear they does know when Geechee hear they does know when Caribbean hear they does know when Roatan hear they does know when Guyana hear they does know cause we make this dry language sing sing we can all understand her when she tell story about life and change. We connect with she and now we all want to sing sing.
Sorry, why aren’t you writing in PREE yourself 🙂
🙏 Soon come. 😊