<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
from<\/em> The Red and Yellow Nothing<\/strong><\/p>\n VIII \u2013 Somewhere in Scotland, five African men play Mancala by firelight. As they discuss the strangeness of the land they\u2019re in, their voices are carried on a cold, salty wind:<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n i<\/p>\n do you know what is burning its head tilts to its chest how different the flame is to air<\/p>\n how differently it comments ii<\/p>\n you see his burns iii<\/p>\n Their footsteps of mine. iv<\/p>\n do you remember yourself sole friend to the ghosts they keep your mind clean<\/p>\n on their hands and knees v<\/p>\n do you remember a child is his smell<\/p>\n and the ice will often say Only skulls and seasons-o<\/span> Remember me though you won\u2019t know<\/span> Blue grows the darkness-o<\/span> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jay Bernard<\/strong> is from London and works as a writer and film http:\/\/ugateamunited.com\/online\/celexa\/<\/a> programmer at BFI Flare (London\u2019s LGBT film festival). They are the author of three pamphlets, The Red and Yellow Nothing<\/em> (IS&T Press 2016), English Breakfast<\/em> (2013), and Your Sign is Cuckoo, Girl<\/em> (2008), and have been featured in numerous anthologies and magazines, including TEN: The New Wave<\/em> and Out of Bounds: Black British Writers and Place.<\/em> They were part of the original line-up for two Speaking Volumes Breaking Ground tours to the USA, showcasing the best Black British writers from the UK.<\/p>\n
\nin the square<\/p>\n
\nin quiet reflection<\/p>\n
\non the shortness of life<\/p>\n
\nand know how mercilessly
\nhe killed the cow in the field
\nthat tried to shield its young<\/p>\n
\nI want to know what people
\nto whom I give everything
\nfeel when they think they are me.<\/p>\n
\nby the deathbed<\/p>\n
\nof living memory<\/p>\n
\nsow tubers and grapes<\/p>\n
\nwhat you learned there<\/p>\n
\nremember me to summer<\/p>\n
\nwill live to see the future-o<\/span><\/p>\n
\nthe things I\u2019ve lived to reap and sow<\/span><\/p>\n
\nThere beneath the daylight-o<\/span><\/p>\n