Naomi Parris, a 19-year-old graduate of Hope Secondary School was born at Nabaclis on the East Coast Demerara. She grew up in Victoria, Guyana’s first Village and currently resides at Belfield with her mother and grandmother. Her love for creative writing began when her First Form English teacher, Melisa Adams, required that her students create notebooks of Short Stories and poems. In Naomi’s case she stuck with her notebook long after she left school.
A self-confessed introvert, Naomi says that she “doesn’t do well in social situations” and “rarely leaves the house.” It’s an issue, she says which she “needs to work on” given that exposure enhances her creative passion. “Most of my time,” she says, “is spent with my pen… my mind ignites after midnight. That’s when I really write.”
If your love is of bruised skin
And kisses that taste like liquor,
If your love is I’m sorry it won’t happen
again.
If your love is fist to cheek
rather than lips.
I don’t want it.
She will be loved
She will be loved,
Maybe not by the hands of your demons,
But by the heart of a gentle one.
She will be loved.
A cry for help
Sshhh…be quiet listen.
I said be quiet!
Maybe if we all listened
we could have saved her from
drowning.
For better or for worse
I was never made to be bruised by your fists,
or torn by your words.
I was made for you to love
To cherish.
For better or for worse
and this is the worse
and I can no longer let you break
the little that is left of me.
For better or worse, I’m leaving for the better of me.
Dinner
The table is set for dinner
white plates and silver cutlery sitting precisely
on the table.
Silence in the air as if death himself is a guest
among us.
Daddy has that look on his face again and so does mommy.
Hers is different from his, shattered much like a bird with broken wings,
And he was the vigorous wind that broke her.