Trouble the Waters
Edited by Sheree Renée Thomas, Pan Morigan, and Troy L. Wiggins
Third Man Books
January 2022
“Your pain is clean and clear in the thickening tattoos on your back
“Mami Wata, Goddess of the Clear Blue” by Linda D. Addison
you no longer hunger for us in your dreams”
The legendary poet and amazing human being Linda D. Addison starts off the anthology and writes in her poem:
“I used to visit the vodun pantheons when you gyrated in dusty courtyards
back when you came to us free and open in your sleep
Mami Vishnu and I introduced star maps to the faithful”
Including stories by Andrea Hairston, Ama Patterson, Marie Vibbert and so many more, there is so much richness and depth in this anthology.
“Deep Like the Rivers” by Christopher Caldwell spoke to me in this story of a bright young man who might be highly gifted although his teachers think quite the opposite. He wants to be a mermaid and pursues a devotion to the sea creatures with interesting results.
As soon as I saw the title “At the Opening of the Bayou St. John,” I knew that we’re in New Orleans, as a reference to the famous waterway suggests. In this tale by Shawn Scarber, we start off with a woman who speaks about having to work for a malevolent spirit. People leave requests to her in a special lamp box. When they meet, it’s in the wee hours of the night. It doesn’t take long for her to get to Saint Louis Cemetery #1 where there are whispering voices of ghost children. They’re trying to protect someone from harm, but it’s not going to be easy. The story takes on a whole other turn as we get to know about the lake people, and grips the reader until the end.
Meanwhile, Betsy Phillips introduces readers to some very interesting regional terminology for crayfish in “Mothers of Crawdads,” which presents an inventive take on body horror that goes in some interesting directions.
The illuminating and marvellous Maurice Broaddus presents “Dance of Myal,” from which this quote is magnificent:
“The ghosts of home smell like curry. The aroma fills the house as I stir the small saucepan of chicken, and with it being almost ready, I turn down the heat on the giant pot of rice and peas.”
In this tale, the protagonist lives in a house that belonged to his grandfather. He gets mixed up with some beautiful siren-like women near the River Mumma. One of them tells him the days are gone in which the women would ‘dance myal,’ which seems to be related to Obeah or Haitian vodou according to the protagonist. He makes reference to an Incident and says people told him not to return to Indiana. He did anyway, and in the process discovers what happens to people who go to this river when they have broken minds, hearts, and burnout.
“Whimper” by Nalo Hopkinson was another one of my favourite tales. This story has wonderful uses of code switching and dialect as with so many of this Grand Master‘s narratives. There are creatures, including leggobeasts, ghosts, hauntings, and ruminations on how to break free.
One of my other favourite stories was “A City Called Heaven” by Danian Darrell Jerry
I’m obsessed with stories that fuse music with horror elements, especially the Blues, and anything that has a Robert Johnson vibe. In this tale we meet a female musician appropriately-named Sibyl, who sings about her husband, Lee. Her husband passed away from a fever. His nephew, Charles, is angry at Sibyl, despite how she explains that her husband likely caught this fever on the riverboat, throwing bales. Charles insists that Sibyl brought his uncle onto the ‘cursed river’ and took his friend. This story sank its hooks into me and did not let go.
In “Spirits Don’t Cross Over ‘Til They Do” by James Hatley, we start off with a person, Rabbit Grace, who “had been on his second tour of Vietnam long enough to start getting mail.” He talks about Water Women, a siren-like group who are said to grant a person’s every wish–or sing you to death. Ever a wanderer not quite sure where he fits in anymore, he has a friend who tells him to go to (fictional) Cross River; they allude to comparisons between Maryland and Louisiana crab, but Rabbit says he never made it to Louisiana. He’s haunted by the ghost of his friend from there, Toussaint. Only too late does Rabbit find out that the lure of the Water Women extends further than he thinks.
Elsewhere in “The Half-Drowned Castle” by Lyndsay E. Gilbert, the protagonist sees a man, the Lord of the Half Drowned Castle, coming for another wife. He kneels in front of her and says he’s in need of a wife. He’s lonely. With shades of Jane Eyre and other Gothic tales, of a woman who agrees to a bargain because it seemed like the best idea at the time, she realizes she doesn’t know anything about her Byronic hero. He talks about curses and about owing a debt to the sea. Everything comes with a price as both Lukas and Aura learn, but fortunately there is a more satisfying ending here.
Other highlights for me included the body horror piece “Hagfish” by Rylee Edgar, which is, ahem, not for the faint of heart and also revolves around a siren.
The story “Call the Water” by adrienne maree brown makes an astute commentary on the situation of neglect of polluter water in areas of Michigan, particularly Detroit, and disproportionately affecting Black communities. Read more about the Flint water crisis and what you can do here.
In “The Ancestor Abiodun Tells Me About the Time She Forgot Osun” by Maria Osunbimpe Hamilton Abegunde, who is a a Memory Keeper, poet, ancestral priest in the Yoruba Orisa tradition, healing facilitator, and doula, here is a powerful quote:
“In one of my many lives, I forgot Osun, but she did not forget me. She controlled my desire by giving me others. Desire is that touch in your belly, your feet, in the back of your heart that whispers possibilities.”
The protagonist most wants a child, knowing this child will probably be sold. She wants someone to remind her she won’t be forgotten and that she can teach what her mother taught her, initiate her into the secret ways of the Memory Keeper, which she thinks is part of fulfilling her destiny. Spirits and bargains can be fickle. This story is full of stunning and evocative writing that readers will want to absorb themselves into.
Professor, writer, and editor Elle L. Littlefield showcases a child born under mysterious circumstances and things turn out in the most unusual in “Mississippi Medusa.”
Ending things, we get two phenomenal poems, “Green Symphony” by Jacqueline Johnson, from which here is a small quote:
“I am the water’s daughter unable to deny
pull of ivory half moons, seasons; to resist
music and current of waves centuries old
Finally, we get “Maafa to Mami Wata by Heather ‘Byrd’ Roberts:
“1526 – We were one. Then two. Then twenty million
trudging to coast. Bounded by ironhorse
shoes. Waiting for splintered lips.”
If you haven’t already, please do yourself a favour and purchase a copy of Trouble the Waters, and support the wonderfully talented authors and editors involved in bringing this project to fruition.
Eva Roslin, Writer blog 