EVERYPOEM JOAN / ENOCH JABBAR

Everypoem Joan/Enoch Jabbar

Thyme smell leaf strain

time is such a strange

thing

stay up all night praises I-ses

every now and then even for

energy ase amen may it come

to pass and all day Joan feel

weary, no, only tired while

Enoch is grumpy and everything

is everything for I and I with puff

and sipp and shimmy-shimmy here

and about with you, both, inspirations

E and J and E J who I know merges

biases and partial personal positions

consumed out of a calabash carried

by two hands who does clap and slap

licks of disdain and affinity equally

or better, fairly... faerie dust gone

Sii-far Whooman

Joan sees far enough

to see and be Bassidy

Dolly and (see) me. She

knows me better seeing

past veils congealed pre

birth and extending beyond

generations. Aunty Joan you

are Enoch’s Aunty—walking with

God(your)self and flying with us

on ladybug/bird wings away.

You are far away and five-year-old

mind body soul cases make much

of your being, near or far, while playing

with the globe, or talking everyday nearly

about you. He knows your age, where

you live and that jaguars and water

lilies live there too, with you living

character in his creations of scenarios

only he could spin and you rememorize

for tomorrow’s larval beneficence.

Jeremy Jacob Peretz teaches in the University of Guyana’s Faculty of Education and Humanities with courses in cultural and Caribbean studies. He holds a PhD in Culture and Performance from UCLA. Jeremy’s scholarship has been widely recognized, most recently with the Caribbean Studies Association’s Best Dissertation Award. His poetry and critical essays are available through such publications as African American Review, Caribbean Quarterly, Journal of Africana Religions, and Postcolonial Text.