Steeping

a 2006 photo the haiku added today

Chacachacare Saturday

we assembly at the dock to await our pirogue

the rain
left
in yesterday



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from a blue bag
orange life jackets

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sea spray splashing
the tour guide's
pointing finger



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The book club (NALIS St James Book Club) having read Prospero's Daughter we cross the Gulf of Paria to visit the island of Chacachacare which the author Elizabeth Nunez used as the setting for her novel

absence of a breeze
the heat
on another island


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sea crossing
head of a baby turtle
surfaces

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floating dock
our feet on the island
of Trinidad once more


all haiku and photos -- © gillena cox 2011

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...Nunez's novel, set in the early 1960's on Chacachacare, a tiny island and former leper colony off the northwest coast of Trinidad, takes off from the most disconcerting moment in Shakespeare's play...Nunez, who is a master at pacing and plotting, explores the motivations behind Caliban's outburst, hatching an entirely new story that is inspired by Shakespeare, but not beholden to him.
read a review here


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...originally named El Caracol (the Snail) by Christopher Columbus because of its shape, on 12th August 1498; at various times in its history, Chacachacare has served as a cotton plantation, a whaling station and a leper colony. Today Chacachacare remains uninhabited except for staff maintaining a Lighthouse on the island. It is also regularly used for day visits and camping
read more here