Guabancex CELIA A SORHAINDO London and Trafalgar, Dominica papillote press
First published in Great Britain by Papillote Press in 2020 23 Rozel Road, London SW4 0EY, and Trafalgar, Dominica
www.papillotepress.co.uk © Celia A Sorhaindo 2020 The moral right of Celia A Sorhaindo to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without the prior permission of the copyright owner. A CIP record of this title is available from the British Library ISBN: 978-1-9997768-7-9 Design by Andy Dark Printed and bound by Y Lolfa, Talybont, Ceredigion, SY24 5HE Cover photograph: satellite image of hurricane Maria heading for Dominica on Monday, 18 September 2017 (NOAA/RAMMB). Acknowledgements With thanks and gratitude to: My dear family, tt, The Nature Island Literary Festival (NILF) organising team, chaired by Dr. Alwin Bully and Dr. Schuyler Esprit (also Create Caribbean founder and director) and all who contributed and performed over the years, Polly Pattullo of Papillote Press, Vladimir Lucien, Oonya Kempadoo, Dr. Kimone Joseph (Head, The University of the West Indies (UWI) Open Campus Dominica), Dominica Division of Culture, faculty and staff of the Department of Literary, Cultural and Communication Studies, The UWI St Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago, including Dr. Maarit Forde and Dr. Muli Amaye, Vievee Francis and Gregory Pardlo (The Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop) and the CCWW Chapel Hill 2017 cohort, Merle Hodge, Funso Aiyejina, Danielle Lyndersay (The Cropper Foundation Caribbean Writers programme), the Cropper 2016 Balandra group and all the writers who visited, The Caribbean Writer and Moko magazine families. Many thanks also to the editors of the following publications where versions of these poems first appeared: Invoked – Susumba’s Book Bag – guest editor Shianee N Ramlochan In The Air – Interviewing The Caribbean journal – Dr. Opal Palmer Adisa
For the Ancestors, Mum (Alexandra), Dad (Martin), siblings (Kenneth, Carol, Michael, Auraum Benneurt), husband Paul and Waitukubuli Warriors past, present and future; your love and support nurtures, guides, grounds and holds me together in infinite ways. This collection is named in recognition of the ancient indigenous peoples of the Caribbean. One of these groups, the Taino, named the supreme female spiritual entity associated with all natural destructive forces, Guabancex.
