Backyard Jam
Miah Prescod
I heard
we gon be outside this summer
and what better way to welcome
the blossoming of her presence
than a cookout —
an ode to the breeze and warmth
from her sun goddess gaze.
Let’s call it a tribute.
One phone call and
everybody coming home to
aunty’s hands in the kitchen working her magic.
But is it really a cookout if you don’t ask
who made the mac and cheese?
Cause everybody’s hands ain’t like aunty’s hands.
Or my mother’s.
The grill is calling my uncle’s name
searching for chicken
hot dogs lined up waiting.
I like mine burnt.
That’s the only way to do it.
Mango chow straight from the islands.
If you can’t handle peppa this ain’t for you.
This is a backyard jam and
we bringing Trinidad across the sea
straight into Brooklyn.
Miah Prescod is an artist and a first-generation American writer of Trinidadian descent. Born and raised in Brooklyn, she is also a sophomore at Sarah Lawrence College. When she isn’t writing, you can find her dancing to soca or binge-watching a political drama on Netflix.