Sylvia Wynter's Dream

Good Evening, my name is Jem
Or Jeremy
Or Jeremiah
Or Armiya
Call me whichever feels like home

Though I am many Masks
To many people
in many different Circumstances

At this moment
I am a student of Literature
at the University of the West Indies
And very little more

I hope, somehow
Through the exercise of writing,
to reacquaint myself
with myself

I’ve been journeying
in an animal shape
for much too long
I miss the taste and texture of language.

Perhaps, shuffled in the deck
of this collective project
I’ll happen upon a wildcard
a Trickster, a joker
who will subvert the humdrum
and revivify my humanity

Like my friend, the dead god Quetzalcoatl
the inventor of books
and bringer of knowledge

my goal is to shed old skin and be reborn
in a more enlightened and pleasant form