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