Islam Island
The attempted Coup d’etat of July 27, 1990 in Trinidad and Tobago represents a deep rupture for me, and for many of the children who belonged to the Jamaat Al Muslimeen community. It signaled an end to life as we knew it.
Over the last few years, I have been exploring and interrogating the landscape of my emotions mainly through writing, as a way to heal the rupture. I wrote this poem, Islam Island, in January 2021. I decided that for the 31st anniversary of the event (2021), I would create a visual for the poem, as a way to bring it to life.
Islam Island The clouds are sparse We sit on the steps of the mosque And talk about what we are going to do When we get big She and I Open a restaurant And a bakery Get married Have babies A car passes blasting soca music "No no we ain' going home..." And we pause and look at our toes I may have blushed Her dark skin is the colour of truth Her palms... feather soft Her large eyes draw me in And I am lost in joy We dreamt for hours Days Years Like this Under the downs tree Sometimes lying on our backs after prayer Looking up at the ceiling fans Sometimes in class At lunch, staring into orange plastic bowls I wanted to go to the beach with her But our fathers were too busy planning to seize the world I wanted us to take our dreams to the water So we could name them And wash them in the salty tears of God To preserve them until we were ready If we were braver We could have held hands Slushed through the mangrove Cross the highway And end up on the shore We could have stayed there until night Until stars and sandflies And maybe when they remembered us They would have found their daughters And forgotten the world
Click on this link to see my TEDxPortofSpain Talk on the same topic from 2015
All filming done with iPhone x and editing with iMovie
Nimah Muwakil….healing.
BY
Wow wow Wow awesome my talented niece you are brilliant well done
Thank you Auntie!
Excellent! That day from your perspective…priceless. Thank you for sharing your soul.
Thank you!
Soul stirring! May you be completely healed. Thanks for unmasking and sharing from the perspective of a girl child.
As salaamu alaikum, thank you for you kind words. Mashallah… the memories bubble over and I can’t contain them.
Poignant, heartfelt and intimate.
Thank you my dear sister
Meloncholic….!
Very beautiful !! poem dear Nimah.❤️ And the video too
Thank you 🙂
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