‘Edenbray in Exile’

A Retrospective Anthology of 50 Poems, Articles and Essays

… … …

Jessica Madlala

***

I never had cause to doubt her

Her smile could open gates

Dress crabs, light fires and keep me warm at night

She smelled of sandalwood it seemed to me

Certainly some natural spice, warm and tasty

It was her natural way that was charming

While innocent, she knew the ways to please

***

Never at a loss for humour, she giggled like a drain

Her smile could lift the darkest mountains

and throw them wholesale into the sea

She could paddle a dugout and spear a big-eyed Tuna

Catch a Spotted Grunter and bake its delicious white flesh

On the briefest, cutest  barbecue you ever did see

That she built of twigs and dried leaves so carefully

***

She would listen to me for hours and hours patiently

Her smile melted frozen rivers that never reach the seA

She was always more than a woman to me

But when the Bulls Eye Squall came that day

Or any other, not like any other, my handsome brother

Jessica herself took off and was gone

and she took the plaited shawl I gave her

***

       writtenbyedenbray20.03.2018

***

#Authors Note : This Poem concerns an ongoing theme that has fascinated me ever since I saw the 2nd Film Portrayal of Mutiny On The Bounty, the 1960’s blockbuster starring Marlon Brando as Fletcher Christian who leads a mutiny of seamen against the austere and cruel Captaincy of Captain William Bligh The mutineers run their ship aground just off-shore to a paradise Island of Tahiti where Christian meets and falls in love with the Chiefs daughter. The film poses some interesting questions around cross-cultural and mixed-race relationships. Questions challenged in an earlier piece I wrote entitled Herdy Praeshen

https://edenbray.wordpress.com/2011/03/22/147/

This Poem takes up the same theme of that earlier, slightly heavier and more serious short story and presents it in this fun, lighter edition. Hope you enjoy! edenbraytoday