Weight of Silence
April 25, 2014White Jeep parting people in Port-au-Prince streets like the Red Sea as we drive toward the mountain, toward air devoid of exhaust fume velvet curtains. At a stop sign I…
White Jeep parting people
in Port-au-Prince streets
like the Red Sea
as we drive toward
the mountain,
toward air devoid of
exhaust fume velvet curtains.
At a stop sign I see her,
a plastic bag seemingly filled
with plastic bags
perched upon her
bandana crown
hand atop clamped down.
We leave the mountains
the next morning,
a small bird takes us
to Jeremie, rural west,
“City of Poets.”
We walk down hill
from the university
guest house
our light coloring
causing stares and photos.
Before us—an onyx goddess
all black sheen and defined muscle
in back-to-basics shorts and tank top
a large blue plastic cooler
resting effortlessly upon her head
in the vibrating heat.
“Ju!” she calls. Water.
Along dirt roads to the guest house,
to the university
we see a roughhewn wooden casket
carried to its resting ground,
a Caribbean Sea beach
garbage dump—
soaring Christmas tree compiled
of corroded metal chairs,
women washing laundry
in murky river water,
pack mules hauling
bundles of straw
that flank both sides.
Women hauling
enormous bundles of straw
wound with cloth
upon their heads—
women, eyes
the dryness of straw,
carrying, carrying.
After a week
of brushing teeth
with bottled water,
cold water showers,
Hurricane Sandy
and tadpole water
collected in buckets,
Hurricane dampness
turning our book pages
to damp paper towels,
Tempest taking away
our class time,
tucking away
students’ shacks
within its fury,
never to return them,
we ride to the airport.
An old woman walks
with a wooden table
complete with wares
upon her head,
from nowhere to little more,
smaller woman behind,
chair hoisted upon her own.
-Janine Harrison (Lake County)
Janine Harrison, who teaches at Purdue University Calumet and is president of the not-for-profit organization, Indiana Writers’ Consortium, lives in Highland. She is anthologized in Veils, Halos and Shackles: International Poetry on the Abuse and Oppression of Women; her work has also appeared in A&U, Blotterature, and other journals.
Indiana Humanities is celebrating National Poetry Month by sharing a poem from an Indiana poet every day in April (hand-selected by Indiana Poet Laureate George Kalamaras). Check in daily to see who is featured next!