Baptism in the Flood, by Marjorie Dybec

​Baptism in the Flood 

after Carolina Shout, by Romare Bearden (USA) 1974
at 1.06 on above video
https://beardenfoundation.org/gallery/carolina-shout-1974-from-the-of-the-blues-series/of-the-blues-carolina-shout-1974-collage-and-acrylic-and-lacquer-on-board/


In the heat of hell, swatting flies and jungle leaves,
the ocean swelled and roared again.
The waves erased the beach and the schoolhouse swam away
and the one-legged men lurched on their crutches to higher ground.

The mamas held their bubbling and curious children
and their mamas lit candles and chanted incantations to their spirits.
The dentists sent their numb-faced patients home
and the goats were let out of their paddock to run.

The savage ocean conquered their meager land like France had done
and stole the fish, and boats and fishing nets and even swept the plantain shack.
Dogs barked and woke up old men sleeping in hammocks.
The earth never shook but the troubled ocean boiled all around them.

The percussive clatter and voices from the tin church under the acacia trees, 
deep in the tangle of orchid vines, floated on the aroma of wet mesquite
Down the jungle slopes into the open village windows where 
Wheelchairs rolled through brown water up to their seats.

They declared their songs of freedom and waved their arms in jubilant
Fits of liberty as they danced and sang and stomped, vibrations keeping time.
They danced out of the church in their fine white clothes
and down the rutted road. Cuffs muddied; ankles soaked.

That wild boy Rene swaggers in his white short-sleeved shirt, black arms folded.
The priest jangles bells and dances down the slippery hill. Marchers clapping
into the deep brown water as villagers gathered ‘round. Rene, who robs shops 
to survive, surrenders and lays back in the priests’ arms and is baptized in the rising flood.

Marjorie Dybec

This poem first appeared in Kakalak.

Marjorie Dybec's ekphrastic poem "Baptism in the Flood" appeared in Kakalak 2023. Her short Her short story, “Opportunities,” will appear in the summer issue of StorySouth and was a finalists for the 2024 Doris Betts Short Fiction prize. In 2023, "Moving Freely," won an Elizabeth Simpson prize. She plans to query her first novel, a work of upmarket fiction, later in 2025. Dybec is a Connecticut native who recently moved to North Carolina, after decades living and careering in Manhattan. Follow her thoughts on writing, publishing, and books at marjorieapple.substack.com.