A WALK TO THE JETTY by Tina Cane


 
 
the walls are aqueous tonight

half-light a brew of medusa shadows     hours mulling the story

once read of a girl who wakes after six months of rain and deserts

her island home     again Maeve sees her marching on the clay road

of mangroves past mangoes and breadfruit past the open market

of baskets and handmade stools     chin angled towards the jetty

away from bay rum     white gloves     her people who pour sugar

in their juice     the book now leagues removed once had a smell

of wet wool once in a trunk in Carthage once at a stranger’s church sale

once a wedge holding open a door
 
 
 

Tina Cane was born and raised in New York City. She is a poet, teacher and founder/director of Writers-in-the-Schools, RI. Her work has appeared in numerous journals including Barrow Street, Hanging Loose, The Literary Review and Spinning Jenny. She lives outside of Providence with her husband and their three children.