MI GRON*

Karin Lachmising


2 

If I am only 
a point in time, 
my land dispossessed, 
cleared, layers, in red 
sand, excavate life, 
bare tops 
of scarce trees 
confirm my presence. 
Will you then remember, 
on the path of hauled off gold 
where their knowledge smolders, 
my mother and my father? 

1 “Mi gron,” Sranan (Surinamese language) for “my land.”

Karin Lachmising is a Surinamese writer of essays, poetry and plays. This poem first appeared in Nergens groeit een boom die haar aarde niet vindt (2013). Translation is by Scott Rollins.