Poetry 3
Poem of the week
Rats
Me did see it pon di news an read bout it inna Star
How rat infestation did tek over Calabar
Di incursion mek di teachers an administrators frown
An tings did get so bad dat di institution did lock down
Di news spread like wildfire an people from near an far
Mek joke an laugh an all rename the high school 'Ratabar'
To tell oonu di truth me did find it kinda funny
When me see di rat dem pon tv a kin teet like Bugs Bunny
Mi fren dem sen me cartoon an ting an me no stop get joke
Until me buck up supm weh did nearly mek me choke
One night me wake up hungry an decide fi eat some chicken
And guess what me buck up...nuh one rat inna mi kitchen!
Now dis creature me talking bout was no ordinary rat
As a matter of fact, at first me did tink it was a cat
So me seh "What a nice kitty puss, mek me pet up him or her"
Den me realise seh di tail did long an never have on any fur
Me seh me did so frighten mi jump up an bawl out
An whole heap a outta order word did fly outta mi mout
So me set some big ol trap pon floor, inna cupboard, pon shelf
Me set so much a di dem ting deh dat me nearly ketch miself
Nex morning me wake up an swear seh di bugger did get ketch
But di trap dem did all empty an
not one did hol di wretch
Den me see him a run cross mi kitchen floor like race car inna Dover
An mi seh di war between me an dis dutty rat jus cyaa over
Imagine me go university and all lef deh wid degree
An dis peanut-brain four-leg joncro come inna me house an outsmart me!
Me ego did tek beaten an me did feel like a wutless fool
For me sure seh dat deh rat never even go a basic school
Well him did win dat battle but me coulda never mek him win di war
For I'd be damned if me mek him tun my house into another 'Ratabar'
Mi refuse fi provide playground fi him fi run round wild an free
So me go out an me embark pon a rat-poison shopping spree
Me come home from work one evening and buck up a stinkin smell
An find him carcass inna one corner very big an swell
So at last me proclaim victory over dat pesky likkle jerk
Me jus hope seh no more a dem inna mi house a mask up an a lurk
- Michael Abrahams
Amnesia
How much longer will she keep pretending?
Pretending that the bloodshot eyes
The broken limbs
The missing hair
The peeled-off skin
Are all marks of love
Masquerading themselves as bruises
I've seen his eyes
Filled with hate and anger
His artist hands
Undiscovered talent
Yet the chiseled lines in her skin
Carved lips that only appear swollen
Black-shaded eyes with blue highlights
And painted ribs that even glow at night
Clearly not the work of a novice
Misplaced memories
Unexplained bruises
Pain that is seldom felt
Yet always whisper to her in secret
Eyes that drip fear and pus
and blood mixed with tears
Bitten tongue and missing teeth
Lips that hide the tales
I've seen trees that had to shade their eyes
From this woman's beauty
Yet all she wants is to feel how love feels
To finally remember what it feels like to heal
- Wendell Casanova Dillon
Speak out
Children from every ethnicity country and class
are locked up in cages of silence
Trapped by fear
The fear of disbelief
Africans, Americans, Europeans, Asians and West Indians are being infected
by this unbearable and demoralising disease called
Child Abuse
It is passed down from generation to generation
Guilty parents adopting from their predators
then try to pass it down to their successors
Creepy hands running into the future of their sons and daughters
Clandestinely taking away their innocence
Turning bright glassy crystal eyes
Into streams of obscurity ignominy and resentment
Children are being exploited
from border to border without limitation
Children are sold into the arms of gangs
for sexual exploitation
Children are locked up in basements
alienated from the rays of each day
they are buffeted with wipes and iron
in the dungeon of hell, they whisper to themselves
'Someone help me'
This is the time to stifle silence and speak out
Don't be terrified anymore, just speak out
Run to a radio station
Blare it out in the middle of a church service
Shout it out at your graduation
Just to get the right person's attention
Don't conceal it any longer, whatever you have been promised
Your freedom from this enslavement is priceless
If you have to sound or look crazy to be heard
Just face it and speak out
Staying in silence will deteriorate your future
Quench the fire of suicide with the water called 'speak out'
Even if you are an adult, be free
Like Oprah Winfrey
blare it out, shout it out, just do it
be the first and speak out
- Daron Chosen Smith
Trayvon Martin
A 17-year-old shot dead
It's an outrage
We wonder
Is it self defence?
Or a racist, overzealous
Man claiming
He's apprehending
A suspected criminal
Who turns out to be
An innocent
Young black kid
Walking
From the grocery store
With Skittles
Just peering at the beautiful houses
Probably thinking
That one day he too
Will rise
And be of importance
But instead he was chased
Probably beaten
Shot with a 9-millimetre
By a Hispanic
Enormous guy
Who claims
Self-defence
Sometimes I sit
And cry
When the law protects the guilty
And prosecutes the innocent
Where is the justice
For Trayvon Martin?
His future was shattered
By the bullets
Piercing his delicate
Body
Unable to defend himself
I say with a heavy heart
Who will the law defend
The killer or Trayvon Martin?
- Anna Chavell Stewart
These days
These are the good ole days
As they will be
When we say
Those were the good ole days
Looking to those days
When we'll look back at these days
And say
Those were the good ole days
But if these are good days
Then I don't wish to see those days
That will cause these days
To be good days
- Keswick Simpson