True Blue of the Islands

Sunflowers

Vincent Van Gogh, the sunflower man
cut off his ear when Paul Gauguin
wouldn’t stay to paint with him
in southern France.

I burnt my veil and wedding dress
scarred both my cheeks
tattooed rosettes
along my arms with cigarettes.

We both needed a man to stay.

You think that it was
loneliness? I don’t
think so. Madness
has always been my guess.

Reviews of True Blue of the Islands

Hanna, Mary. “Review of The True Blue of Islands, by Pamela Mordecai.” Jamaica Observer, 2006.
 

Lakhan, Anu. “Things Only Poems Say.” Caribbean Review of Books, no. 9, 2006. Review of The True Blue of Islands, by Pamela Mordecai. Accessed 9 Sept. 2013.

Savory, Elaine. “Mordecai, Pamela. The True Blue of Islands.” MaComère, vol. 7, 2005, pp. 187–191. Digital Library of the Caribbean. Accessed 9 Sept. 2013.
 

Verhagen, Katherine. “Black and Bruised Blues.” Canadian Literature: A Quarterly of criticism and review, 8 Dec. 2011. Accessed: 9 Sept 2013.