GUARDIAN OF THE THRESHOLD

Poetry is all about what comes in …
—Robert Kelly, “Poetry is Doors”

by Lelawattee Manoo-Rahming

Lelawattee Manoo-Rahming was born in Trinidad and lives in Nassau, Bahamas. An artist, poet, fiction writer as well as mechanical/building services engineer and part-time lecturer, she has published poetry in several magazines and anthologies in the Bahamas, the Caribbean and London. She won the David Hough Literary Prize from The Caribbean Writer (2001) and the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association 2001 Short Story Competition. Her first book of poetry, Curry Flavour (2000) was published by Peepal Tree Press.

In the half-open light of the gallery
When everyone else is asleep
The hammock creaks rhythmically
Like someone unknown is swinging
In the dark: a jumbie, a tief

The silent enemy wanting
To seep inside through door cracks
Like smoke from the chulha
Waiting to enter the kumbla
Defile and never leave

So seal the door tightly
Keep it from banging flapping
Inviting the intruder
Be the Guardian of the Threshold