Jamaica
Jamaica, Queens. Little Caribbean
Little hope, planted proudly on private property.
Complexes of displaced lives, fire escape, fire inside.
Green grown careless, green blown fearless.
Turbulent durag, ripples on a wheelie.
Silent grandmother, sugar cane in her eye
Can breathe now, but habit holds her.
We are passed over unreached, found, left, Black.
Dutiful, we fight gun violence.
Searching for God, Black like we
pack gats / jerk chicken, dance soca / meet on the ave.
Where the sidewalk ends & struggle paradise begins.
Rowana Abbensetts
Rowana Abbensetts is a Caribbean-American writer raised in Jamaica, Queens. She is a mental health advocate, and founder of Spoken Black Girl Magazine, a platform that promotes mental health and wellness among women of color through expressive writing, events, and workshops. Rowana has had fiction and poetry published in Moko Magazine, Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora and Free Verse Magazine. She currently working on her first novel, Departure Story, which explores immigration, politics, race, and gender through one woman’s coming of age story. Follow Rowana at @Rowana_a and @Spokenblackgirlmag. Her website is www.spokenblackgirl.com.
Connection to SEQ: I moved to Jamaica, Queens from Flatbush in Brooklyn when I was three years old. Looking back, the move made perfect sense for a Guyanese immigrant family. Both communities have a unique mix of Caribbean and African American culture. My parents wanted to be near stores where they could buy fresh fruit, the right kind of curry powder, and hot pine tarts from the local bakery. But for me, the experience of living in Jamaica, Queens felt unique. I am essentially American, but not African American and definitely not an immigrant. Jamaica reflected this duality in my identity. Recently, I moved back to Jamaica. Now, I see - in the faces of my neighbors, in the glaring police towers, in the encroaching gentrification - less difference and more of our common struggles as a community.
