Kumina (by Kamau Brathwaite)
1 on the first day
2 of yr death it is quiet it is dormant like a doormat
3 no one-foot touch its welcome. its dust on the floor
4 is not disturb nor are the sleeping spirits of this house
5 i sit here in this chair trying to unravel Time so that it
6 wouldn't happen twine
7 on the second day
8 of yr death. i break a small
9 bread
10 i can still smell the sweet flour of yr firstborn flesh
11 on the third day
12 of yr death. the water in my urine turn to blood
13 i cover the waterfront of the mirror w/a blue cloth
14 where yr face stood
15 on the fourth day
16 yu shd be rising. knocking at the door of
17 darkness. coming back to me
18 i do not hear yr call
19 on the fifth day
20 after yr death. a young white rooster. white white
21 white feathery & shining tail & tall
22 neigbour of sound from miles away in the next village
The rest of the poem cannot be displayed due to copyright restrictions.Publication Notes:
Kamau Brathwaite, Born to Slow Horses (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2005).
" target="_blank">This
poem is reproduced on the Griffin Prize Web Site (from the winning volume on the 2006 International Shortlist).
RPO poem Editors:
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition:
2011