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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.
‘The History of Mosquito Bay’ was commissioned by the Forward Arts Foundation to celebrate National Poetry Day 2016.