I was introduced to Connie whose contacts with the Women of the Caribbean Project (WICP) and with Helen Safa of the University of Florida helped me to get a fellowship to UF to continue my studies in political economy with anthropology.
Connie became a mentor and good friend. She gave me feedback on my Mphilin literature when I switched disciplines years later, and was key in helping me to publish a chapter in NYU's Tim Reiss' book on music in Caribbean literature. Connie was like that as many of her students know. She extended the power of the academy to young ones.
Love Lies Sleeping
(for Connie Sutton)
On Windy Sunday afternoons
dry season
wind-blown scraps
find refuge at
a town drunk's back.
Lettuce leaves rot passively
beside her outstretched
sleeping arm
while children's Sunday voices chime
from the eves of bright cathedrals-
Oh, let her sleep!
Oh, let her sleep!
She dreams of woodoves
and the ground dove's
murmurous coo...
—Margaret Gill, Hong Kong Baptist U