Sylvia Wynter's Dream

by Blaire Santos | 20th November, 2023 | Blog 7: It’s a new day and a blank slate!

His side of the closet is still full

of dust. His shoes, his suits, his Joseph-coloured dashikis,

his guayaberas, neat, ironed, and dusty.

His side of the mattress is still dented,

holding the imprint of his body

and the angular shrine of laundered clothes,

yet to be filed into donation boxes.

His pillow is fluffed too,

and the books he was reading are piled like firewood

in the hearth of the nightstand.

Mama Jones still sleeps

on only her side of the bed,

when she can sleep.

“I mi plan fi finish clean before yu left,”

she said before I came here.

“I mi plan fi finish clean before yu kohn back,”

she said when I returned.

“I mi plan finish clean before yu left,”

she said before I came here again.

I’m told she still hasn’t started.

She remains by his side

in the love nest of dead man’s things,

even though the scent of wine and sunflowers

replaced Zacapa and sandalwood last summer.