Rajiv Mohabir
Blue Gods
samundar apan pickni janile
par sange jai Yemanja jai Varuna
Natalie Wood with Andil Gosine. Varuna and Yemanja 2025. 2 x 30” x 40” mylar
No surprise any goddess or god shine
sapphire and lapis, that any deity, be
of brine and sargasso or enter human
house coaxed by prayer and exhaust-melt. No surprise
Natalie Wood with Andil Gosine. Varuna and Yemanja 2025. 2 x 30” x 40” mylar
Wata destroys as she creates. Our bodies
of water recall the deep language of toil,
the mixing of our sweat and anguish and
lamentations, the lingua franca of the gods
whose avatars—panther, crocodile, gold
of cane—dance before me, still, chanting, chanting—
At the shore I rattle beads, I call your name; no
surprise my blood be of molasses and sea.
The sea knows her children
across the sea, hail Yemanja, hail Varuna
