ef you doan wan eat slimy okro stewwid hands & lips don’tI have& I’ve curved my silver spoon awaywhile delicately scooping turtle soup& pulled fresh thyme through my teethBajan soup: pumpkin puree & pigtails& I’ve raised a small bowl to my lips—why notwhile tasting miso broth of soybean & koji.We Caribbeans are in-betweenMother Africa, Asia & the colonial waythe okra in my cou cou only slightly slimedflying fish ndiwo firm, metal fork stabbing just slightlyIt’s time I try my yellow turned corn mealwith right-hand fingers lick them cleanremember a liminal ancestor or two in the chewing.
Civilised Okra
Lynda V.E. Crawford
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Copyright © 2023 by Lynda V.E. Crawford.
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry Daily with permission.
Lynda V.E. Crawford is a poet, born and raised in Barbados. She has lived on both coasts of the US (Connecticut and California). Her work has appeared in national and international journals, including ArtsEtc Barbados, the Caribbean Writer, Galway Review, Bookends Review, Exposition Review, and various Moonstone Arts Center anthologies. Crawford is a graduate of the University of Connecticut (bachelor’s degree) and Long Island University (master’s degree).
Spring 2023
Lincoln, Nebraska
University of Nebraska
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Timothy Schaffert
Managing Editor;
Jessica Poli
Prairie Schooner, an international literary magazine, publishes poetry, short fiction, and essays from around the world. In recent years, the quarterly has included authors from six of the seven continents (with subscribers in just as many). Historically, it is one of the nation’s five oldest quarterlies and will celebrate its centennial with the Spring 2027 issue. A project of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln English Department since its debut in 1927, Prairie Schooner is one of UNL’s most important cultural exports and research legacies. Not only has it published some of modern literature’s most notable writers, but it has also provided opportunities for generations of students to gain first-hand editorial experience.
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