BLEMISH

by KWAME DAWES

There is, then, the sudden air of grief.
It holds steady over the city; the slick
heavy leaves are weighed down, but so
fecund and dark green are the thick
clustering of branches laden with
the assurance of fertility. It is hard
to consider beauty in this, when the body
softens with sweat, and the sweet
sourness of this knowledge of decay
and renewal is repeated in the armpits
and crotches. It should be clear that
I am desperate for joy, but my body
is leery of such anticipations. Perhaps
all it takes is a missive carried
over miles, and the memory of some thought
some precious recollection, arriving
in a note or a poem, to say despite
it all, despite betrayals and even
abandonment, that room, dark
and heavy with the body’s funk,
remains a secret delight, breaking
through the mundane air. Consider
a wall, pristine, newly painted, but
with a kind of keloid growth
creeping relentlessly across its surface,
the blemish, which is its own pleasure.

Kwame Dawes is the author of numerous books of poetry and other books of fiction, criticism, and essays. His most recent collection is Sturge Town (Peepal Tree Press, UK 2023). Dawes is Professor of Literary Arts at Brown University. He teaches in the Pacific MFA Program and is the Series Editor of the African Poetry Book Series, Director of the African Poetry Book Fund, and Artistic Director of the Calabash International Literary Festival. He is a Chancellor Emeritus of the Academy of American Poets and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Kwame Dawes is the winner of the prestigious Windham/Campbell Award for Poetry and was a finalist for the 2022 Neustadt International Prize for Literature. In 2022 Dawes was awarded the Order of Distinction Commander class by the Government of Jamaica. He is the Poet Laureate of Jamaica (2025-2028).

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