A break away from partitioned paradise
on a half day tour into the hills.
From an air-conditioned mini-van,
reality just beyond the window seal.
Signature on the traveler’s check
buys us fifty-two minutes of island history.
A complimentary cocktail upon arrival,
with rum and a fruit juice mystery.
Spence, the navigator, since 1968
offering his boyhood culture to the open ear.
Trying to help us touch the pulse,
feel the vein of the interior.
The medicinal properties of the Shy Lady,
calabash gourd, and mongoose.
Three and a half miles of moving business
on eighteen feet of wrapped bamboo.
We browse riverside stands with a distant eye.
Carved statues pipes and ashtrays!
Swift digression, so tip and shake hands.
Step off the raft of the Martha Brae.