Gullah land. The way the sunlight beats down and down and down on a body. Sea sounds always but the sun so hot how do you move? The women fan. Sit on their porches. Fan and fan. Child, they say. It too hot today. And it is. So they sit. Just gotta set, they say. Just set and set and set. And if you not from here, how you gonna speak a word to them dem will understand. No way. Oy. No way. Ay. Night fall down. Moon go high. Waves come in. Go out. Whistle come. Drum too. Soft. Quiet the land. Soothe the heat. Rice and okra, shark meat, dem eat. The ocean brought them here — many years ago. Slaves then. Proud. From so many West African countries nobody speak the other man’s language. So they work. Bump backs. Carry cotton. Plow fields. Bring Master and Mistress water. Brown breast in white baby mouth. She suckles. Grow strong. Say Mama to the black woman. Her own mama cry. Her own mama slap the black woman.
