Panman

This part includes seven essays that reprise the autobiographical engagement with “arrival” as a form of reckoning—for the author but also for the audience and for the Caribbean subject broadly conceived. Beginning with the portrait essay series “Mother,” “Son,” and “Story|ing,” the section considers the poetics of socialization that emerge in aspects of the author’s childhood, upbringing, and education. These form the experiential lens through which the author reads the memory of sexual abuse in “Panman,” reorienting himself in relation to the memory of the act—and, crucially, the act of its retelling—to potentially undo his victimization and disempower the abuser. “Naked” marks a shift from childhood to adolescence and manhood as the author navigates reflection as a necessary affect of the conscience. This is further explored in “Fall” and “Form,” which deal with the author’s understanding of—and need for—tenderness, love, and forgiveness.