“Lo Que Saben las Garífunas” by Peter Strand

When I was a white boy
with the skinny legs and pointy elbows,
I watched them dance the punta.
The early drums in distinct, one with the waves
that steal kisses from the shore.
Always the woman first, eyes closed
and head swaying: left then right
like a green culebra until she swallows
the music, takes it into herself and it takes her
hips. The tambores obeying her
gyrations, circling each other like buzzards
and climbing the air to desperation.
Then a man: wide-eyed, hungry,
the braids in his face and him not caring.
The music soaring to a frenzy
and the womanhips saying youcan’thaveit.
And the people howling and hooting
because they know that this is true,
but this is always the way
with a man and a woman.

Peter Strand
from Kodon (fall 2008)

Commentary: Garífunas are a people from Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras. The punta is a dance. A culebra is a snake; tambores are drummers.

Peter Strand was my student as a freshman at Wheaton College, and I will never forget how he reenacted the the lover-transformed-into-a-hawk from Marie de France’s “Lai of Yonec” in our class!

This poem was published in Kodon last fall. It reminds me of what an extraordinarily sensitive young man Peter is – and what a talented poet aware of all the riches of our senses!

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