Bermudian poet Nancy Anne Miller will be signing her new book Somersault this Friday, April 24th at Brown & Co. With visual imagery that matches the vivid subject matter of her island home, Miller writes about a colonial childhood within the echoes of empire, the shadow of slavery and the complexity of island life which tourism has glossed over. Now residing in the United States, she compares the two cultures through an immigrant’s experience and writes back to her home with the pathos of loss and with the buoyancy of gratitude.
Miller tied for Best Poem in The Bermudian magazine’s Short Story & Poetry Contest this year, with her entry, “Water Logged”. She also received and honourable mention for “Temporary Membership”. This is Miller’s fourth book. The book signing at Brown & Co will be from 12:00 to 2:00pm
Here are two poems from her book:
Somersault
It must be that we are drawn
back to the ocean, because waves
rise like days in their own definition
before becoming flat, one with sea.
I’m sure it is how we remember
a specific moment, before it curls
into all times, or becomes scattered
as a net of spray pulling in the new.
Or, is it because we drifted into
the world, feet fin-like, practicing
the somersaults we will do to keep
afloat, but with a safety rope still intact.
Tea-Service
The silver teapot sails
the mahogany table. A dark Indian
Ocean ripples the afternoon’s sheen.
The creamer prams milk
from the cows of the home-hills,
the dairy fresh landscapes.
Sugar stacks up
the way an empire is built,
raw brown whitened into cubes.
