Six Pictures Six Words

Stacy Johnson
2 min readMay 24, 2022

Jamaica, Jamaica

Photo by Stacy Johnson

I shared breakfast with a bird

Photo by Stacy Johnson

Wiggled blue toes in warm sand

Photo by Stacy Johnson

Watched rain dance across dry land

Photo by Stacy Johnson

Met strangers who called me friend

Photo by Stacy Johnson

Melted like sunshine and rose again

Photo by Stacy Johnson

Jamaica, my spirit’s new best friend.

When I arrived in Montego Bay, I was greeted with, “Welcome home.” I’m a Southern Girl, so hospitality occupies space in my DNA. But Jamaicans welcoming me home was something more than hospitality. By my second day in Jamaica, I began to understand.

“Welcome home” was an acknowledgment and recognition that we share ancestral history rooted in Africa, separated centuries ago by the transatlantic slave trade. We had never met, but we knew we shared a commonality, and our reunion was worth celebrating. The African diaspora lives.

Jamaica, Wah gwan, how yuh stay?

Thank you for your support Henery X and Jeofrey Ogire for always encouraging me to write.