Kia Hayes, @ Women Writers

Special Issue:
Women & Voodoo
August '08

Original Poetry

Voodoo Special Issue Home

Joanne C. Hillhouse

August 2008

Benediction Before the Essences

A Prayer

(offered up on a Sunday drive in August 2007)

"Thanks for the air salted with your kisses and tears
"ferrying away worries and fears.
"I see your smile in the light bouncing off the water;
"at the edge of sight, in the ether.
"Thanks for the smooth side of the stone,
"and the rough;
"for the call of the birds,
"your unwavering touch.
"I am too small to hear your voice
"and despair in the quiet;
"but, here, right now, I feel your love
"and I dance here
"in the quiet."

Caribbean Sunset

The sky is on fire.
If this is Armageddon,
Let me burn;
For I would bathe in colours so
Heavenly
For Eternity.

Caribbean Spirit

De Tree Jumbie
Jumbie Tree
Tree Jumbie
De Jumbie in De Tree
Spirits rising from Trees
Jumbie Speak, Spirits Meet
Spirit Tree
Sacred Roots
Sacred Roots, Strong Limbs
Jumbie have long memory
Kapok
Kapok speaks

The Sea

Upclose
It ripples
Like a woman's body
In the blush of night

Antiguan Joanne C. Hillhouse is the author of two novellas: The Boy from Willow Bend and Dancing Nude in the Moonlight. Her fiction and poetry have also appeared in Ma Comère, The Caribbean Writer, Calabash, Sea Breeze, and more. She freelances as a writer, journalist, editorial consultant, and producer. For more visit www.myspace.com/jhohadli