Absolom by Tedecia Bromfield (Jamaica, 25)

Found my voice under waves of death
Decaying, the chorus thinned to an anthem only mother's bear
Everything licks out, Cries became murmurs of what filled lands green
Fleshy screams
Bloody whimpers
Fields sugared in Sunday gospel
Hear their cries their lord
Open up your ears deaf lord
​
South Jamaica,
Mine and my mother’s and my mother’s mother’s grave,
Barren land stretch for miles
Full of symbols of decay and love,
Water browned where they’ve washed their hands
And tried their hands at purity
Absolute. Absalom.

Ted (they/them) is a queer non-binary writer from kingston, Jamaica whose work is influenced by their
relentless questioning of self and the heteronormative presuppositions of this lived experience. Their
relentless questioning of identity and navigations within a homophobic state is what led them to put pen
to paper to make sense of, affirm and validate their incongruent way of being. As a result, language,
voice, identity and the current state of queer existence is a primary motif within their work.