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Kumina (by Kamau Brathwaite)

Griffin Prize for Excellence In Poetry, The (2001 - )

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