Collected Item: “The House of Sustenance”
Title
The House of Sustenance
Description
A 'black box memory poem'
This poem is about a conversation I could not have with my nanny (my now deceased maternal grand-mother in Trinidad. Nanny is a Bhojupuri Hindi word. Bhojpuri is a hybrid of Awadi HIndi from North Eastern state of Uttar Pradesh, fro where my ancestors were Indentured under British Colonialism from 1845-1917).
It is increasingly being erased but now re-emerging in Trinidad. And this poem for want of a better phrase is an homage to say thank you to my nanny, for her labour, the labour of my ancestors for all enriching me by passing on her/their labour, food, language and so much more.
I remember visit both my nanny and nana in the 80s and even though they did not have much, their small house but abundant garden of infinite offerrings.
This poem is about a conversation I could not have with my nanny (my now deceased maternal grand-mother in Trinidad. Nanny is a Bhojupuri Hindi word. Bhojpuri is a hybrid of Awadi HIndi from North Eastern state of Uttar Pradesh, fro where my ancestors were Indentured under British Colonialism from 1845-1917).
It is increasingly being erased but now re-emerging in Trinidad. And this poem for want of a better phrase is an homage to say thank you to my nanny, for her labour, the labour of my ancestors for all enriching me by passing on her/their labour, food, language and so much more.
I remember visit both my nanny and nana in the 80s and even though they did not have much, their small house but abundant garden of infinite offerrings.
Creation Date (dd/mm/yyyy)
27th November, 2017
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Kathleen Boodhai