* — November 8, 2018
Lenelle Moïse — mater dolorosa
Keene Public Library and the Historical Society of Cheshire County, 2012
That night, to own the night, my mother—angry with my
shiftless stepfather—spun around five times, Erzulie Freda’s
horse.
 
Barefoot, off-balance, fresh manicure scratching at her
polyester nightgown, she tore through the sky blue cloth at her
left breast.
 
She demanded a sip of cool champagne, pink silk for her
exposure, a whole lotto wrist caresses, a little respect.
 
She smacked her own cheek with a beige powder puff, misted up a
lace kerchief with Liz Taylor White Diamonds. My baby brother
sneezed.
 
Grace cut her eyes at my bewildered teenaged doubt, then snapped
fingers for a hand mirror, a scoop of soursop ice cream, a
sharpened knife to cut out the rest of her checkered heart.
 
The husband—losing the argument—fanned her with their
glossy wedding photos. Lips pecking at her big toe, he renewed
his weepy vows.
 
Our Lady simply smiled down—moonlight with a little honey in
it. She fondled his quivering chin, then hopped onto a love seat
to gallop and grind.
 
That night, Mommi would not respond to Mommi. I should have
called her Mater Dolorosa. But I was too young to hear drums
beating for hips in the other world.
Originally published in No Tokens Issue No. 4. View full issue & more.
*

Lenelle Moïse is a playwright, screenwriter, musician, and poet. Her book, Haiti Glass (City Lights/Sister Spit), won the 2015 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award and was a Lambda Literary Award finalist. Her writing has been published in Meridians, Utne Reader, Left Turn Magazine, and Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory. Her work has also featured in several anthologies, including Word Warriors: 35 Women Leaders in the Spoken Word Revolution. Moïse wrote, composed and costarred in the Off-Broadway drama Expatriate. Her other plays include K-I-S-S-I-N-G and the Ruby Prize-winning Merit. She was the 2018 Playwright-in-Residence at Ithaca College, a 2017 Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellow in Dramatic Writing, the 2017 Lakes Writer-in-Residence at Smith College, a Huntington Theatre Company Playwriting Fellow, and the 2010-2012 Poet Laureate of Northampton, MA. She has independently released two critically-acclaimed albums: Madivinez and The Expatriate Amplification Project. Moïse regularly performs at theatres, colleges, and galleries across North America. For more information, visit http://www.lenellemoise.com.