“water children” is a reflection of Danielle Legros Georges’s mentorship, our connections to Haiti and the Caribbean, and the deep appreciation I and I’m sure many other second-generation Caribbean writers have for the work she’s done and support she’s given us through the years.
water children
for Danielle
there are pages we write that smell of nothing
but back home. chicken foot and red pea soup
blistering between ink and white space. the way
the fat slides beneath the tongue and pea skin
hugs a tooth back. the smell clings like this, rich
and strong. stewed and boiled in memory and
turmeric. seasoned in aromas of a past we bring
forward as we find the present. these pages are
written through time. generations born to the
islands and their children born past the water.
the water children. conceived beyond the wet
sky. filling pages with smells and tastes from
murmurs that echo across oceans. but some-
times the water pours into chasms. sand and
soot grasping at the edges. they lay open.
exposed and wondering if the water is enough
to keep them afloat. they wonder until the island
speaks. soaks them up whole and holds them in
its palms. it smell right. the taste good. and the
sun peeks through its stocks and bristles. The
island’s smile washes over the water where the
children lay and raises them up above the chasm.
the pulpit of wondering below. and these water
children are free to smell and they fill empty pages
again. and the island watches steady and sure.
gentle and drenched with the knowing of anchors
and the places we think of when we think of home.
there are pages we write that smell of nothing but
the people who embolden us to write them.
Morgan Christie’s work has appeared in Callaloo, Writer’s Digest, the Caribbean Writer, New Delta Review, Prairie Schooner, Obsidian, sx salon, and elsewhere. She is the author of five chapbooks, a novella, and an essay collection, as well as the short story collection These Bodies (Tolsun Books, 2020), which was nominated for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in fiction.