A Day In The Life Of Jessamy
:: by Sandra Sealy ::
Some years ago I saw Susan Mains‘ painting, Team Work (2003), in a Caribbean exhibition in The Caribbean Gallery of Art in Speightstown, Barbados. I was doing one of my occasional art gallery crawls. There were a few pieces that caught my eye. The vibrancy and the composition drew me. I wanted to pay homage to the honest toil of our Caribbean fisherfolk. I made notes of my impressions and went home over the next few months to write the poem, A Day In The Life Of Jessamy. I had visited Grenada before and talked to a Grenadian friend locally to research the background for the piece.
‘Team Work’ Copyright © Susan Mains, 2003
A Day In The Life Of Jessamy
Luminous blue-green waters
merge with sweat
of honest living
and coolly crash
against splayed, bare toes
straining in wet sand.
Backs bent,
Jessamy, Stagoli and he two boys,
pull and tug
a tug-of-war
with writhing nets
laden with hind, jacks, titiri and kingfish,
under a sun-coloured sail
flapping happily
in Windward winds.
Whistling an old Sparrow tune,
Jessamy stand up and bend back,
back and neck stretching,
lift up yellow cap
and flicks sweat
from his greasy, tar-hued brow
with the back of a callused hand
and say to he self,
Is a good thing
when a man own
he own boat
an’ could look after he woman
an’ send he chil’ren
to learn good at school.
Sea life could be rough;
ain’t no life fuh dem.
But today?
Bonjay!
Sea like she mekkin’ Carriacou love to de Sand!
She so smooth an’ sweet;
she gih we big catch dis mornin’.
But after we done selling here-
work done.
Mavis would have
hot lambie and rice and callaloo waiting,
ice-cold mauby to wash it down.
Den later at Olgilvie Shop,
play some dominoes with Stagoli and de boys,
buy a roun’ ah River Antoine,
and relax…
… cuz tomorrow mornin’-
God spare life-
is work again
Copyright © Sandra Sealy, 2009
**First published in the inaugural edition of “Isla Firme” in Venezuela in English and translated into Spanish.
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Sandra Sealy
Sandra Sealy is a communications consultant, blogger, award-winning Caribbean writer, creative writing tutor and spoken-word artist from Barbados. Her popular blog, Seawoman’s Caribbean Writing Opps offers markets and tools for international writers of all genres.
Thank you for the amazing poem. It encompasses all that is Grenadian and put me in the shoes, or lack thereof, of Jessamy. Ahm ready to pull on the net and bring in the catch!
Dear Heather:
Thank you so much for your feedback and for tweeting it too! It means a lot to me that the piece has touched you. I’m so glad it felt authentic.
My dear friend Diane Lumsden, who’s Grenadian-Canadian living in Barbados had A LOT to do with that feeling. I picked her brain – what beer is popular in Grenada? What expressions might a older working man like this use? etc.
I’ve had a few other visual art pieces (sculpture/photos/paintings) inspire me this way to successfully create poetry. 🙂
Thanks again,
Sandra