Tiphanie Yanique

The History of Mosquito Bay

Forbearers tell the story of Lindbergh
touching down on the runway of sand,
his pants full of shit, his heart full of child.
The islanders named a beach after him.
Forbearers tell the tale of Oppenheimer
docking at the island not Manhattan.
His head bursting out of the window,
so the islanders named a beach after him.
We islanders know the bays, their stinging.
As children, we find bones and goddesses:
Our ancestors or other invaders.
In the islands, there is a science
to isolate a bone from an ancestor.
Harder still, the story of a plague
from the name of a god.