MiPOesias Magazine

Geoffrey Philp

Geoffrey Philp is the author of Twelve Poems and A Story for Christmas and the novel, Benjamin, My Son. His poems and short stories have been published in The Oxford Book of Caribbean Verse and The Oxford Book of Caribbean Short Stories. He lives in Miami, Florida

Beyond Mountain View

As we descend Mountain View
Avenue, past the houses that lie prone
beneath Wareika, scarred by hurricanes
and bulldozers, past the walls
smeared with graffiti that divides
the city, I roll up my window
from the stench of the sea at low tide
that creeps into storefronts and rum bars,
into the hair of the sisters in floral
prints, shirts of the brothers
with spliffs tucked behind their ears,
up the legs of children rolling
spokeless bicycle rims down a lane
still unchanged by my love,
and ready myself for the blinding blue
of the Caribbean Sea that shapes
the palisades of Kingston, shrubbed
by mangroves and sea grapes, round
the bend that in my childhood led
to Harbour View, away from my father’s
anger, as the light flashes outside
my window, across my driver’s face,
making even the bush beautiful

Near the roundabout, our car joins
the line of holiday traffic heading
toward the airport, the smell of the dead
harbour clinging to my body,
and a man armed with a rake and machete,
clears debris from the embankments,
branches that block signs for travelers like me
who have forgotten which side of the road leads home,
as he seizes a small hawthorn, barely surviving
in the sand, and begins hacking away at the roots.