IMOGENE’S NOTEBOOK

I Am From Worlds Both Lost and Found

A poem

Author’s photo.

I am from neither here nor there but everywhere,
moving year upon year.

I am from travels to Africa, Asia and beyond;
I am from morning strolls to school while the sun is low,
stopped on route by a deadly African snake,
dashing home through the midday heat and the blinding sun,
before it singes and suffocates me.
I am from afternoons spent playing on the arid Tanzanian plain
in an abandoned train carriage that hosted spies and heroines,
princesses and robbers,
and months’ worth of endless imaginary adventures.
I am from watching my sister sitting on the rooftop
plucking mango after mango from the overhanging tree
and eating them all…before vomiting
and vowing never to touch mangos again.

I am from bewildered morning returns from the British north,
from the accents of my dad’s childhood
to the middle-England nothingness of the Oxford tongue.
I am from returning to this strange playground many times,
with hair so brightly green-stained…