Poem

Olive Senior

Side by side

Original language

Discovery

Discovery

Discovery

Always
like the futile march of crab-armies
from mangrove fortress to the beach

Always
like the palm-fringe waiting
to be breached

Already I know, the moment you land I
become islanded

In the shadows of the rain forest
I wait in submission

Amidst the trembling of the leaves
I practise hesitant discourse

Always
my impenetrable heart.

Publisher: First published on PIW,

Olive Senior

Olive Senior

(Jamaica, 1943)

Olive Senior worked in journalism in Jamaica and Canada, and lives alternately in both countries. She spends much of her time giving readings and conducting workshops internationally. She has been writer in residence or visiting international writer at Universities in Canada, the West Indies, Britain and the United States.

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Poems

Poems of Olive Senior

moon

Discovery

Yard Fowl

hurricane story, 1988

meditation on yellow

The birth of islands

Close

Discovery

Always
like the futile march of crab-armies
from mangrove fortress to the beach

Always
like the palm-fringe waiting
to be breached

Already I know, the moment you land I
become islanded

In the shadows of the rain forest
I wait in submission

Amidst the trembling of the leaves
I practise hesitant discourse

Always
my impenetrable heart.

Discovery

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