Greener Grasses

A poem about Sickle Cell Anemia. (Previously published in "The Great Black North: Contemporary African Canadian Poetry")

and here I thought

I was Canadian.

poorly built for this weather.

I need heat and sun

the doctor said.

diagnosed at age 7 with

Sickle Cell Anemia; a mutation of malaria

affecting those from tropical climates,

making me immune to malaria.

a lot of good this does me here in Canada.

perhaps in 100 years of global warming

if all the pine trees

are killed by pine beetles

and instead of planting pine trees

they plant palm trees

and Vancouver is pushed further inland

and the tropical insects find a new home

then maybe I’ll finally be

built

for this weather.