[image courtesy 'the imaginary garden']
BATTY MAMSELLE
I come from dasheen planted in the backyard,
Callaloo bush cleaned on Saturday
To cook Callaloo on Sunday,
A few sugar cane stalks
Like thin jointed ladders, shooting up arrows
To catch the sunlight, to make life sweeter
I come from chennet tree and mango tree,
Which girls were forbidden to climb, back then;
Lest they make the fruit sour
And the clothes line,
Sometimes caught up in the tree branches,
If the tree was not trimmed
And the batty mamselle would
Come to rest on the clothes line,
With sunlight glinting transparent wings
Before they fly,
Where to? who knows?
© gillena cox 2016
If you enjoyed 'Batty Mamselle' you may also like 'Sunday Callaloo'
Glossary
#Callaloo bush - leaves of the dasheen
#batty mamselle - the name Trini folks call the dragonfly; also used to describe a sassy woman
#arrows - the Sugarcane inflorescence
#back then - Old folks said if girls climbed trees the fruits became sour
Transforming with Nature's Wonders
AND Sanaa's Prompt Nights
On Popular Demand – The Hidden Realm – [7]
Don't leave before listening to Trinidadian Calypsonian Lord Kitchener(1922 – 2000) Batty Mamselle
