CORRINE BINNINGS

It seems my mother has always been young
vibrant, and strong willed

threatening to dash piss
on the neighborhood bully who skipped
us in line at the standpipe

promising to chop up the nasty
rasta man who smiled too long at us
on his way through our community

playing dandy shandy     snakes and ladders
wagering peanuts in weekend card games

finding a dollar where none was planted

making a way out of overgrown situations

Now at 70      she is the image of my deceased grandmother
mouth mashed like fritters without false teeth

hands clumsy and feet unsteady
shoulders drooping lower       hurting
harder      carrying forgotten memories

dependent on me to tie her lace
straighten her collar      plait thinning
hair     carry her heaviest loads

hold her hand up the stairs
down the stairs

make her tea

dish her daily doses of patience and grace

now that I am her mother       I struggle to carry
my world and my mother together
like she carried me
afraid and alone

Corrine is a Jamaican poet and teacher who has published both Poetry and Creative Nonfiction the Dark River Review, Brine, The Caribbean Writer, PREE Lit and BIM. She was winner of the National Library of Jamaica and the Jamaica Poet Laureate 2023 Louise Bennett-Coverley Prize for Poetry. She is currently working on publishing her first chapbook and full-length manuscript of poetry.