Jamaican Honeymoon
Tomorrow your footprints will be raked clean,
today you are floating in the pool
With a frozen Pina Colada.
The pool waiters babble in patwa
While on the balcony a grackle pecks indignantly
At your remaindered breakfast.
Too much bagel, not enough toast.
The bluebird of happiness has darkened considerably,
Prefers champagne to rum, and wants you to know.
Your schedule today is severe:
History in the morning; Nature in the afternoon.
The Tour of Life here runs in reverse.
You will visit the Anglican Church of St. James
(Once the slave’s hospital). And later see the vault
Where the slaves burned Massa’s money —
And the cottonwood tree
Where the slaves were hanged.
No, you will not save the dolphins.
But while snorkeling at a meet and greet,
One frisky bull will hump your leg.
No sea urchins will give you a wedding gift
And the pedicurist knows all the
Ins and outs of pruning Jefe’s feet.
You will survive the couple’s scavenger hunt,
Drain martinis with a plasterer
From New Jersey, and sing one too many
Choruses at the piano bar.
Stumble graciously beneath the upturned palms
And pee merrily under the stars before dawn’s
Curly light greets you with its rosy hammer.
Your hangover will not go out with the tide,
But over dry toast you will follow the wiggling
Backside of a bridesmaid, jogging on the beach,
Powering up for her first Sunrise of the day.
Poolside, the ponytailed nonagenarian
From Cleveland will be attended to
So sweetly by his nursing Rasta queen.
And as Ackee trees bow down to meet you,
Peacocks will strut among the fancy deck chairs.
Such Paradise! A garden where Jah
Lets animals name themselves.
And the Ark never loses sight of land.
This trebled martini of a heaven,
A kingdom peaceable, where The Help
Speak in tongues with words
Which passeth all understanding.
Though what you hear is not for you to say.
It is Almighty Jah
Whispering to his sunburned children.
And the language He is speaking
Is the language of slaves.
by D.G. Geis
D.G. Geis lives in Houston, Texas. He has an undergraduate degree in English Literature from the University of Houston and a graduate degree in philosophy from California State University. His poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in 491 Magazine, Lost Coast, Blue Bonnet Review, The Broadkill Review, A Quiet Courage, SoftBlow International Poetry Journal, Blinders, Burningword Literary Journal, Poetry Scotland (Open Mouse), Crosswinds, Scarlet Leaf, Sweet Tree, Atrocity Exhibition, Driftwood Press, Tamsen, Rat's Ass, Bad Acid, Crack the Spine, Collapsar, Grub Street, Slippery Elm, Ricochet, and The Write Place at the Write Time. He will be featured in a forthcoming Tupelo Press chapbook anthologizing 9 New Poets and is winner of Blue Bonnet Review's Fall 2015 Poetry Contest. He is editor-at-large of Tamsen.
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