Norene’s laugh

echoes through my window

on a Saturday morning

reaching every room

filling them with sunshine
At once

I am transported

to a congregation of aunts

Nennen’s toothless smile

Granny lifts her skirt high

before plunging them back between her thighs

and a laugh from deep within bellows joy

Another aunt tears streaming from her face

thumps a table and gasps for air

and a laugh escapes

peeling sorrow away from the wooden walls

of the house

in Salem
Today on that same street

Norene laughs and fills my heart with joy

and memories

of family

and brown women in madras head ties

and clicking sliver bracelets

Norene’s laugh is snow cone

ginger stick and sugar cake

And every time

it touches me it fills me up

it is Glory!

It is Hallelujah

it is a blessing

when Norene laughs.