The Best of All Possible Worlds

by Karen Lord

A lot of people act like misfortune is contagious. They don’t want to be exposed to it for too long. They’ll take you in and make all the right gestures and noises, but when the months wear on and you’re still in their house or their town or their world, the welcome starts to wear a bit thin.

When you’ve been almost exterminated, language is the first thing you cling to, one of the main roots of identity.

When you start thinking of yourself as damaged goods, you put up defenses to make sure no one has the chance to reject you,

Playing the cards I’d been dealt became my badge of honor, not a burden.

The Caribbean is to me the new cradle of humanity. It was easy for me to imagine an entire planet just like it, with people from every corner of the world.