essah cozett

IN BETWEEN

there was never time

to celebrate newborns

to return to the water

[there was only air and rubble
that crowded the city]

back in the bush Mami Wata

worshippers carried white roses

and grapes, offering their lives at midnight. 

[big men who dreamt of gold
became rogues of wreckage]

turning young girls into mothers

Omas in the village gathered babies

brought back from the city of air and rubble

[bathed them in sacred waters
purifying them of their parental sins.]

______

ESSAH COZETT IS A LIBERIAN-AMERICAN POET, BORN AND RAISED IN GEORGIA. SHE IS CURRENTLY A PHD STUDENT IN CARIBBEAN LITERATURE AND LANGUAGES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO, RIO PIEDRAS CAMPUS. HER POEMS HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED IN SEVERAL PRINT AND ONLINE PUBLICATIONS, INCLUDING BIM, 805 LIT + ART, PEEPAL TREE PRESS, THE CARIBBEAN WRITER, PREE LIT, MOKO MAGAZINE, INTERVIEWING THE CARIBBEAN, TONGUAS, AND ODRADEK. SHE IS ALSO THE HOST AND PRODUCER OF THE PODCAST ESSAH'S WAY.