On the Threshold

On the Threshold is an anthology comprised of 50 poems in 11 sections. Thepoems in each section share a common theme. The motifs range from deathin On the Threshold; to misery in Total Darkness in Daylight; to homelessnessin Destinys Stepdaughter; to happiness in Moods; to economic reality inSold out for a Green Card; to cruelty in Wounded Lioness; to pathos in SoulStealer and Mother and Daughter; to prayer in Father and Daughter; tohilarity in The Ballad of the Mermaid; to parody in Snatcher of the Spry. Thefour poems that comprise Snatcher of the Spry are parodies of these poemsrespectively: Coming thro the Rye by Robert Burns; Fair liberty was all hiscry by Jonathan Swift; To Lucasta, Going to the Wars by Richard Lovelace;and She walks in Beauty by Lord Byron. Each section of this anthology beginswith an epigraph. The darker sections of this anthology are about my grandmothers. Fromchildhood my mother began telling me about their travails. She told me theirstories repeatedly because she wanted me to write about them so theywould never be forgotten. The remarkable thing about the lives of thesewomen was the fatalism with which they accepted the injustices done tothem. They both suffered from asthma. My paternal grandfather traded in hiswife for her younger sister because in his ignorance he believed that asthmawas contagious. He took the second sister off to a distant island. My fatherand his mother were sent to live with her eldest brother. Three times daily myfather went with his calabash to collect their meals from relatives. When mygrandmother died my grandfather returned home and took my father. Bythen he had two more sons. Throughout his life my father lashed out at his auntwho was twelve years old when she was made to take her sisters place. Thetrauma of witnessing his mothers pain drove my father to drink himself into anearly grave. When my grandmother gave birth to my mother rabies hit her father-in-lawsherd and killed more than fifty cattle. Her mother-in-law attributed this disasterto the daughter-in-law and her female newborn. She claimed that they werecursed. She forced her son to take his wife back to her family. They sailedovernight down the Demerara River to Georgetown on an open raft. Mygrandmother contracted pneumonia and had an intense battle with death. She recovered to the news that her husband had remarried. He never learnedthat she became asthmatic. My grandmothers went to early graves. My mother lives with their heartacheand she passed this legacy to me. The fruits my grandmothers reaped from thisworld were bitter but the pathos of their lives has mellowed into a sad beautyas the decades passed. May the poetry of their anguish bring you pleasureand a better understanding of the female condition.

On the Threshold is an anthology comprised of 50 poems in 11 sections. Thepoems in each section share a common theme. The motifs range from deathin On the Threshold; to misery in Total Darkness in Daylight; to homelessnessin Destinys Stepdaughter; to happiness in Moods; to economic reality inSold out for a Green Card; to cruelty in Wounded Lioness; to pathos in SoulStealer and Mother and Daughter; to prayer in Father and Daughter; tohilarity in The Ballad of the Mermaid; to parody in Snatcher of the Spry. Thefour poems that comprise Snatcher of the Spry are parodies of these poemsrespectively: Coming thro the Rye by Robert Burns; Fair liberty was all hiscry by Jonathan Swift; To Lucasta, Going to the Wars by Richard Lovelace;and She walks in Beauty by Lord Byron. Each section of this anthology beginswith an epigraph.The darker sections of this anthology are about my grandmothers. Fromchildhood my mother began telling me about their travails. She told me theirstories repeatedly because she wanted me to write about them so theywould never be forgotten. The remarkable thing about the lives of thesewomen was the fatalism with which they accepted the injustices done tothem. They both suffered from asthma. My paternal grandfather traded in hiswife for her younger sister because in his ignorance he believed that asthmawas contagious. He took the second sister off to a distant island. My fatherand his mother were sent to live with her eldest brother. Three times daily myfather went with his calabash to collect their meals from relatives. When mygrandmother died my grandfather returned home and took my father. Bythen he had two more sons. Throughout his life my father lashed out at his auntwho was twelve years old when she was made to take her sisters place. Thetrauma of witnessing his mothers pain drove my father to drink himself into anearly grave.When my grandmother gave birth to my mother rabies hit her father-in-lawsherd and killed more than fifty cattle. Her mother-in-law attributed this disasterto the daughter-in-law and her female newborn. She claimed that they werecursed. She forced her son to take his wife back to her family. They sailedovernight down the Demerara River to Georgetown on an open raft. Mygrandmother contracted pneumonia and had an intense battle with death.She recovered to the news that her husband had remarried. He never learnedthat she became asthmatic.My grandmothers went to early graves. My mother lives with their heartacheand she passed this legacy to me. The fruits my grandmothers reaped from thisworld were bitter but the pathos of their lives has mellowed into a sad beautyas the decades passed. May the poetry of their anguish bring you pleasureand a better understanding of the female condition.