Afrobeat Journal Issue 2 : Spring 2011
by Opal Palmer Adisa
Once Home
when you passed through
the door home was tender
touches and words more sturdy
that yam helped you navigate
the grays and potholes of life
it held celebrations and served as
meeting place where life got
created and born over and over
and tears and disappointments
were simmered and sauted into sauce
i watched babies become girls
become women son become
man and leave for florida
for education leave for brooklyn
for opportunity the same old story
of leaving
always leaving
but when it collapsed and they
were all gone i no longer cursed
the leaving i heaved a deep sigh
of relief and gratitude what is
home will never be destroyed
the tear drop a boil on my lid
The Renderings:
The Voices of Haiti: A Photo-Poetic Rendering
Who is Opal Palmer Adisa?
Opal Palmer Adisa, Ph. D, diverse and multi-genre, is an exceptional talent, nurtured on cane-sap and the oceanic breeze of the Caribbean. Writer of both poetry and prose, playwright/director, professor, gender specialist and cultural activist, Adisa has lectured and read her work throughout the United States, South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Germany, Spain, France, England and Prague, and has performed in Italy and Bosnia. An award-winning poet and prose writer, Adisa has twenty-two titles to her credit, including the novel, It Begins With Tears (1997), that Rick Ayers proclaimed as one of the most motivational works for young adults.
