Author: Phyllis Shand Allfrey

Cited by

• Monique Roffey (1)
  • IN: White Woman Green Bicycle (2009) Fiction, British
    EPIGRAPH: Love for an island is the sternest passion; pulsing beyond the blood through roots and loam it overflows the boundary of bedrooms and courses past the fragile walls of home. Those nourished on the sap and the milk of beauty (born in its landsight) tremble like a tree at the first footfall of the dread usurper – a carpet-bagging mediocrity. Theirs is no mild attachment, but rapacious craving for a possession rude and whole; lovers of islands drive their stake, prospecting to run the flag of ego up the pole, sink on the tented ground, hot under azure, plunge in the heat of earth, and smell the stars of the incredible vales. At night, triumphant, they lift their eyes to Venus and to Mars. Their passion drives them to perpetuation: they dig, they plant, they build and they aspire to the eternal landmark; when they die the forest covers up their set desire, Salesmen and termites occupy their dwellings, their legendary politics decay. yet they achieve an ultimate memorial: they blend their flesh with the beloved clay. Read the original article here: Phyllis Allfrey: Love for an Island - Caribbean Beat Magazine - Caribbean Beat Magazine http://caribbean-beat.com/issue-10/phyllis-allfrey-love-island#ixzz4oOFBzYuX NB: this text is copyrighted, and only limited excerpting with full attribution is permitted. For licensing and reproduction permissions, please contact MEP Publishers directly. Follow us: @meppublishers on Twitter | caribbeanbeat on Facebook
    FROM: Love for an Island, (2014), Poem, Dominica