Written piece
Faintly, it smells of jasmine
Zoe Hamilton
Malta
About this piece
"Faintly, it smells of jasmine" traces the threads connecting one's ancestry and present. Reflecting on the vast array of cultures and traditions within the Commonwealth Quilt, the poem weaves together abstract elements of daily life and memory.
Hope lives in a bottle of jasmine flowers
We sealed and sailed across the sea
The warmth of cardamom, rice, and white milk
Condensed that pools in the cracks of the pavement
Deserted; swamp, where my house lay
The leg of my uncle’s chair who breathes a wisp of yore air before
Sinking deep into the blades
of glochid grass.
There is a rooster
Whose burning wattle crawls out soft feathers—with sharp teeth
He bites the sun,
A melting mooncake, wallowing all our earth each day
By day; the land where the sun never sets
Faintly, it smells of jasmine