Kamau Brathwaite wrote That "the hurricane doesn't roar in pentameters" And I really believed it could be true That Caribbean hurricanes had their own cadences, their own dances : Ida was reggae, Allen was merengue Brigitte was gwoka David was cha cha cha and Edith was kadans rampa and Dorian calypso All dactyls hatched instead of iambic pentameters Out of each island Zeus 's head Until i met the still eye of Hurricane Muse.
Muse was her nickname Her real name was Shar Named after shark and share and shear and sharon, Named after a calypso rose Fearless except for lizards, a rose of tiny thorns With a taste of a stormy black coffee Born to a dragon of Jade and a white *** tigress In the midst of the 1961 hurricane season. Shar has the S of Sébastien Sally Sam Shary Sean and Sara The H of Humberto Hanna Henri Hermine Harold and Hélène The A of Andrea Arthur Ana Alex Arlene and Alberto And the R of Rebecca René Rose Richard Rina and Rafael And she dances not only calypso And quadrille and zouk But a mix as well of Salsa Hustle Affranchi and Reggae In iambic pentameters While she gently paints fearless green lizards Having her five iambs of coffee First thing in the unstressed and stressed morning Before she even opens the syllables of her still Muse eye.