Poetry

POEM OF THE WEEK

Phone bill passa passa

Di junior minister in di Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Mussi have him phone surgically attach to him ears

Fa da bill deh surpass di million dollar mark

An when me hear dat me haffi remark:

"RALPH CLARKE!!!"

Wedda him a chat to him bredrin, family or woman

Or is official government bisnis dat him did deh pon

Dat bill deh astronomical, me nah tell nuh lie

It so high dat it a look way down pon di sky

Him neva hear bout WhatsApp, Skype, Viber, or Tango?

Mussi tink seh money grow pon tree like East Indian mango

An dem seh dat data roamin did help mek di bill high

But if dat is di case fi true, him coulda use Wi-Fi

Nuh use dem tell we seh wi belt we fi tighten

When di taxpayer burden dem nah try fi lighten

Wedda di call dem is bout business or dem is bout pleasure

All a we suppose to be unda austerity measure

Fa health centre run out a contraceptive pill

An school pickney a use pit toilet still

An dem seh dem cyaa afford temperature checkin machine

Fa dem seh dat dem bruk, but me nuh buy dat, naa mean?

Me tyad a di neva endin careless spendin

Truth bendin an slackness defendin

Money a run inna government but it nah trickle down

To me an yu weh a struggle ya so pon di groun

- Michael Abrahams

Poem of the 'weak'!

How much longer are we going to say 'out of many we are one'?

Jew or Gentile, frown or smile, Caucasian or African

Does it matter anymore who I am? Christian or Sinner Man

Some preach 'give onto Caesar' - but they are sinister leaders

They divide and conquer and dock their ships in the sea of greed with anchors

Leaving the masses to suffer - without a doubt times are tougher

Much rougher - farmers 'dutty' tougher - global warming - the heavens a suffer

Clouds dehydrate so there is no rain - just island Jamaica with many growing pains

Not much water - do you need a magnifying glass to see things are so much harder?

People die on hospital floor - for sure - in wait - too late, hoping to see a doctor

People in Cornwall County quarrelling over who to take the seat of Roger

Is this country under a 'black reign'? Is seems our leaders are afraid to call on God's name

What a shame - saliva washes the leader of government's name down the drain

Where is the silver lining? Where is the opportunity to make hay while the sun is shining?

All we can see is pure fear and doubt - empty churches with much pomp and clout

Living rooms without couch, bins empty - nothing to feed rats or even cockroach

Yet artists keep singing, poets keep writing, streets watching

Many are locked in meetings deliberating while life is passing, much time wasting

Feet walking, mouths yapping, hungry dogs barking, babies crying

Can you hear the car horn tooting?

Ambulance sirens screaming

Police keep shooting, INDECOM keeps investigating and there is no escaping

Wage freezing, these are the seasons and times - beyond CVM or TVJ Prime Time

Jamaica needs a divine portion more than Holness or Portia

Mama use to say 'Uncle Sam sneeze and Jamaica catch a cold'

But slavery still nuh abolish since 1834 - One hundred and eighty years old

Who is it that is destroying the average Jamaican's hopes and dreams?

According to Gordon Robinson, Gleaner In Focus -

September 14, 2014

'Meet Your Slave Mistress' - Madame Christine Lagarde - why did she come a yard?

Was it to console those who annually cannot find $467,940 on their bank cards?

Our economic lungs struggle to breathe through clogged nostrils

With the coming of the Europeans how will modern Tainos pay our disease bills?

Could it be another invasion of those who plunder our wealth causing us to run to the hills?

If the Church and government continue to spiritually sleep

Before the ultimate brimstone and fire -

natural disasters will make many weep

Can you imagine a society without legs, no hands, and no mouth, much less gum to hold teeth?

Before long how will the PM as the minister of defence stop the intense a.m. or p.m.

Attacks in the street? - When demons takeover -

even the Commissioner will have to retreat

What is happening in this society? Rat infested skullduggery

Who stole my cheese? God - I beg you to intervene please!

Have we gone too far? It seems we stop stealing trucks and cars

To be now stealing from a physically challenged woman -

How dare you take her wheelchair?

How dare you with such diabolical coronation, market remedy for chik-V by grating seeds of pears?

Have we lost our godly fear and our passion as a people who genuinely care?

This is the reality - the end is very near -

O God, please dry my tears

And take hold of my hands and feet -

as I express my pain in my poem of the weak!

- Czedale Smallwood