Relic

by Georgio Russell

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My smallest brother remains 
          naked in the shrine of our childhood 

tub—it is the morning of the day he dies, 
          and he is singing so strong his neck veins 

are vivid, roaring out the gospel our father 
          ​plays daily on his soprano saxophone. 

While in song he soaps the decade 
          his body has managed, folds to drag 

a washrag along the hairless gleam 
          of his leg, then scrubs away the rheum 

crusted in each closed eye. The square 
          window above him holds the opening 

clouds, and he is standing netted in pure 
          sunlight, all brown skin and fleeting 

foam, the amber rays embracing him
          on my behalf. The doorway frames 

my brother, and I am still the teen 
          on this side of his steaming bath, 

still his waking audience, pressing 
          ​my school shirt over the croaking 

iron board, my bones stained well 
          by his solo—listen to this grooving boy, 

how he drum-slaps his slippery chest, 
          listen to this novice haunting, small 

and standing always at the center 
          of that rusting tub, in opera forever, 
​
his voice a tone-deaf breeze through
          the whole home, a sound that seeps 

deep into the yellow walls, preserved 
          ​in their pores, a score that will last my life.

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Georgio Russell is a Bahamian writer and an alumnus of the University of the West Indies, Jamaica. He is a past winner of  the Peepal Tree Press Prize (2019), the Mervyn Morris Prize (2020), and  The Editors’ Prize for Magma Poetry (2022/23). He was shortlisted for the Frontier OPEN Prize 2022, and long-listed for the National Poetry Competition (2022) held by the Poetry Society. Russell was a featured poet for the British Council’s project, “Unwritten Poems: Exploring Caribbean Engagement in WW1.” His work has been published in Yolk Literary Magazine, PREE magazine, Frontier Poetry, The London Magazine, Magma, and he has work forthcoming in Cordite Poetry Review. He currently lives in Brampton, Ontario, where he teaches English for Educate Academy. Some of his favourite poets include Derek Walcott, Lorna Goodison, Ocean Vuong, Jane Hirshfield, and Roger Reeves.

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