Leave the House Empty
BY TOPHER ALLEN.
When a man dies, he doesn’t know
his fate until the ninth night. ‘Til then,
he will stand before the mirror, brush his hair
put on work boots, blue jeans, Polo shirt.
The fading scent of cologne will come home
close to nine, pull back the sheets, tap his son
on the shoulder, and wait; for the boy to join him
at the dinner table.
He will sleep beside his wife, with an arm dangling
down the bedside.
But the family must leave the house empty,
and on the ninth night, return with a live goat,
and a blood-drinker. With drums and a fire
in the front yard; the man’s truck tire must sustain
the flames. Fling flasks of white rum;
one at each inside corner of the house.
With a machete, sharpened from morning to night,
sever the animal’s head, let the blood trickle in a circle
around the house. Then break his dinner plates.
Burn his belongings, watch leather peel from the steel
in his work boots, and know
he can no longer pass through the front door.
Topher Allen is a poet and short story writer from Jamaica. His writing explores themes of grief, mental health and Jamaica's cultural and historical experiences. He is an Obsidian Foundation Fellow whose work appears in Montreal Writes, Magma, adda, Poetry London, Barzakh, Ambit and elsewhere. He won the Poet Laureate of Jamaica: Louise Bennett-Coverley Prize for Poetry in 2019 and was a finalist for the Markus D. Manley Award 2024. You can find him on Instagram @likkle_black_writing_ras.