Poems

Oregon's Shooting

On an Oregon's hill, is lit the nightmare of a smouldering fear, where tears leak voidness and

Emptiness stoned-faced - children diving on hard floors, huddling together at peace in tatters once more.

October's chill, dampening the sunlit will around a man, an emotion and a blazing gun to kill

October bringing the rain amidst the rising light of day.

A murder of 10 and counting as voices and answers end.

An agony of soul too loud to hear,

Drips down a nation's cheeks like misery,

Chiselling words in deafening silence.

- Homer Sylvester

Service please

Lady at the counter,

Selling services and goods

You know, you are not polite or behaving as you should

When I come to purchase

I need attention first

Don't have me waiting while you yap on the phone

Even if it's with you beau

I don't care, let him call back or hold

Lady at the counter

Be polite with actions and words

Don't behave as if I disturb you

Don't roll or cast your eyes, akimbo or seems as if to do your

work you tire

When I ask you things in English, answer in English please

Don't get all expressive and roll out dialect or back-yard

language at me

Lady at the counter

Times are much too hard

Try to make me feel as if the money spent, I can't resist

The goods seem sometimes over priced

But please note that this is true

If you give polite service, I would buy the goods from you

To pave the way for my return

Dismiss me with a pleasant smile and show that you really care

To see that I am satisfied.

- Sandra Grant

Manderson, aka Mandege

Jamaicans

are lost

Jamaicans are lost

The green and orange is still the order of the day

Imprinted on the hearts of Jamaicans it runs through the veins

Complains about jobs, food, housing and injustice committed by the policeman

Looking for an answer?

So they claim

Next five years green and orange power and shower they proclaim

The gunshots ring out, the plates are empty

Portia, Holness? Why won't my member of parliament help me?

Jamaicans are lost

Lost in the pool of cultures

Red flows throw our bodies and gives us our life

Orange and green on the mind they can't think of anything else

Some sit on the roadsides with hands stretched out

Portia, Holness? I wish I never vote

Five years later and the X is placed in the same box

Then how shall the change you wish for come about?

Jamaicans are lost

Children in the street holding up placards

The future of the nation

heading in the same direction

The party conferences are filled to capacity, they still believe

When the people are crying out for help the council offices are half filled

Portia, Holness? I have nothing to eat

The light bill climbs, the school fee climbs, property tax gone up

Portia flashes new suit, new cars for ministers and nice vacation houses

Yet the news comes on and people say "Mama P nah eva lef me out"

Jamaicans are lost

Hundreds laid off but bus fare should be raised?

Parents can't sleep well at nights, the money for the bed not fully paid

Tin foods now cost as much as meat

While the Opposition and Government continue to greet and skin teeth

Jamaicans are lost

When will they see the light?

The darkness of politics

continues to cloud the mind

Sit and wait and hope that everything will soon be alright

- Saccheen Laing

The way we are

The priest in that homily at Immaculate

one Saturday Mass,

made the point about human weakness and the

overriding need to make things perfect

like straightening pictures that are lean on the wall

but how sometimes you have to let alone ...

you go to adjust

it falls

and the frame dismantles

the glass breaks

and the picture is ruined

if it WORKS lean

then its okay

you have head tilt

but that's okay

the reason things are that way

is because

that is the way

and all want it that way

- Helen-Ann Elizabeth Wilkinson

Leave out that man!

Many women are living in fear

Living in sorrow and

trembling

Because of the man that says he

loves you

If your shape

Your hair

The way you walk

Your colour

Or even your outfit

Capture the eyes of another man

It's not your fault

If you are abused

Scandal put down

Or even put out in the street

By the man that says he loves you

it's not your fault

Leave out that man

I tell you leave him out

If your uncle

Your first, second, third cousin

of the male sex

Hail you with all his heart

As clean and clear as your hearing is

You become deaf as a bat

And dumb as a mute

Because the man that says he loves

you is there

Leave out that man

I tell you leave him out

Don't suffer shame

Don't suffer pain

In this situation there is no

good gain

This situation brings only

Grey hair

Cracked nerve

Wrinkled face

And sad eyes

Women

Don't let a man beat up on

you

You are precious and chosen by God

Not for a man to put down and abuse

Leave out that man

I tell you

Leave him out

- V .O. Ricketts

The world

Ever sat to think about how perfect the world is?

Or life at least?

You wake up, there's sunshine outside,

The sky is blue and still, the milky-white clouds are effortlessly gazing across the sky,

The trees and plants are glistening in the sun while it shines on the early morning's dew left on their leaves,

The deep beautiful blue sea vividly

moving.

How? Why? Why is the universe so

precise?

Why is the universe so perfect?

Why does everyone ignore the beauty of the world they live in?

Why are we always rushing or busy?

How come we never take the time out to acknowledge what we're living in and appreciate it?

Who made this so perfectly?

Why are we able to wake up and see this every day?

The world or life is so perfect and precise that it gives each and everyone one of us TIME.

So then ... Why do we rush things?

When everything is already in its correct place.

Why is it that we always either cry for more time or wish it would just hurry and pass?

TIME is ALWAYS moving, it is up to us to move accordingly.

TIME waits on NO ONE, it is up to us to make use of it.

See? Everything is already in place for us,

Every moment of everyday is already

calculated,

The world itself is indeed perfect -

so why do we always blame it?

Why do we always blame LIFE for the things that happen to us?

I think it's because all the cards are in our hands and we have no one left to blame but ourselves.

And then, of course, it is only human nature to find someone, something to blame because we think we are doing everything so perfectly.

We are wrong.

The world does everything perfectly,

The world doesn't change,

The world does its same routine every

second every minute every day.

Society changes, people change,

NOT the world, but because we feel the need to blame someone, something we blame LIFE.

We believe we have the power to change the way the universe works,

We take the cards in our hands and what?

We have no one left to blame but the Universe itself.

- Shernet Swearine