We don’t need heroes — we need muses

Using everyday encounters to fuel creativity

“At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet” — Plato

My first memory of having anything close to a muse was my kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Pumphil. She was my very first teacher when I lived in the Caribbean, and even today, her grace, magic, and kindness have profoundly shaped the person I’ve become as an adult.

Mrs. Pumphil, who was born on the island, had left — like many young adults, I imagine, in the 1970s — to work in England. To my knowledge, she eventually returned to Saint Lucia to open a kindergarten, which became the talk of our village. For the first time, we had a higher-end kindergarten — one that catered to a certain class — and she even introduced a school uniform.

It was a place where every Mr. and Mrs. So-and-So in the village hoped to secure a spot for their preschooler. I was fortunate to be among the first cohort of Mrs. Pumphil’s Kindergarten — a preschool designed for children before they entered the formal schooling system at age five. Despite not being part of the formal education system, Mrs. Pumphil’s Kindergarten still required a uniform: a checkered blue-and-white cotton frock, which I wore proudly, my hair styled in two neat plaits adorned with fine blue ribbons.