Morna

Abstract

Morna Brenda Marie Osbey (bio) they sayis the song of the slaves of portugaland carries only one meaning: africa of the soul ground down like coffee, cocoa, millet, beans.where is my africa of the soul? morna, morna, morna. brown woman walking the narrowed streets of incidental countries.who is she?and why do we care?we don't. we don't care.we only sing the songs we are given to sing.all is mornaspiritsdust. [End Page 1] Brenda Marie Osbey Brenda Marie Osbey is the author of All Saints: New and Selected Poems (LSU, 1997), which received the 1998 American Book Award. She is the author also of Desperate Circumstance, Dangerous Woman (Story Line, 1991), In These Houses (Wesleyan UP, 1988), and Ceremony for Minneconjoux (Callaloo Poetry Series, 1983; UP of Virginia, 1985). Her poems have appeared in numerous journals, anthologies, and collections, including Callaloo, Obsidian, Essence, Renaissance Noire, Southern Review, Early Ripening: American Women's Poetry Now, The Made Thing: An Anthology of Contemporary Southern Poetry, 2PLUS2: A Collection of International Writing, Literature of the American South: A Norton Anthology, Epoch, The American Voice, and The American Poetry Review. Her essays on New Orleans appear in The American Voice, Georgia Review, BrightLeaf, and Creative Nonfiction. In Spring 2005, she was appointed the first peer-selected Poet Laureate of the State of Louisiana. Brenda Marie Osbey is a native of New Orleans. Copyright © 2008 Southern Literary Journal and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Department of English and Comparative Literature