Selection of poems

 

Life breaks us

 

Is it all as simple as it seems?

Is it so easy to put on a smile and pretend your happiness is real?

Are you hiding behind the long lashes that shade your eyes?

Is your vision still visible when your eyes are clouded by tears?

Are you encouraged or discouraged by the fact that as your tears flow

Life flows around you

Life picks up the good and the bad and carries it along to the ocean of dreams

Dreams that have come to life or dreams that have come to be buried?

Do you still taste the happiness on your lips after the pleasure is released?

Do you still feel the high long after the bottle breaks and the butt is out?

Does life give you thrills that make you reminisce for years to come?

The moments of excitement are quickly wiped away with one slip of your tongue

Years of effort on a ship that left you letting in waters of regret and anger,

Anger at the master builder? Anger at the captain? Anger at the passenger?

Who can you blame for your ship not withstanding the stormy seas?

Life is unsteady

We are thrown up and down on each flight we take

Are you able to withstand the turbulence? Or are you next to break?

We can sip our coffee slowly

We can even smile a little brighter

But if the coffee is bitter and the smile is fake

Life will eventually make us break

Are you able to stand?

For how long will life toss you up and down?

Life breaks us

It's always been a part of the Master's plan

The difference is how much can you withstand?

Before you are no longer standing in broken pieces

- Saccheen Laing

 

Act like it!

 

Act like you are an intelligent person,

Stop this fooling around.

You know you are better than that,

Take your reputation off the ground.

You won't realise how much these words are worth,

Girl, I have been there too.

I know what it's like to be afraid

And everybody think they can use you.

Recognise your value, little girl

Lift your head with confidence

Their careless actions don't define you

Learn from your mistakes, have sense.

Act like you are valuable

Stop dragging yourself on the floor,

Let people respect you

I know you can do so much more.

Let them not drag you on the gully banks

You have no place down there.

Do you want to live or be like them

In their squalor and disgust share?

Nasty-minded, fake, empty misery

Replaced with hope anew

They will try everything to tear you down

Because indeed they grudge you.

Tap into your creativity

Examine God's plans for you

Let not their evil deeds derail you

Instead, to greatness let it propel you

God is going use you, trust

You will go very far,

Be the change we want to see,

You are already God's brightest star!

- Simone P. Graham

 

Parliament

 

Can you hear the drums beating?

Do you hear the footsteps approaching?

Can you hear the horns of the flashy cars blaring?

Do you see the lines forming as the supporters come out cheering?

The doors are flung open

As the parliamentarians come closer with their perfectly tailored suits and stush shoes

The seats are filled as the meeting begins

Some lean back with phones in hands

Such looks of disinterest as the plans for the future takes the centrefold

Children and women being raped and murdered on street corners

The disinterested look grows stronger

The prime minister flashes a bright smile

She seems caring just for a little while

Parliament is in session

We can't disturb

Ministers busy discussing the future of our country

We dare not say a word

The hours roll by and some step out when the tension gets high

If Jamaica could cry out she would ask us why

Why do we continue to rip her to pieces as the years go by?

Her beaches try the best they can to cover the bloodstained land

Shhhh, the speaker of the house is speaking

What comes next on the agenda is who next to represent us in this game of politics

The last word is spoken

The seats are cold again

What bright vision have they formulated?

The pen ink has dried

The bills have been signed

Yet we remain weak in our knees

The horns fade out as they leave

Betrayed with a smile as they tell us the suffering will only last a little while.

- Saccheen Laing

 

Hindsight

 

 

Sometimes because of ego and pride, we lose sight of what in life is most important

Not realising that in an instant, in one moment of insanity, it can all be lost; change is the only thing that is constant

The paradoxes of life draw a very thin line between love and hate

But I have to say I prefer the former, because it leaves me in a much happier state

Having met you, my life's garden blossomed a most beautiful flower

One I promised to cherish and prune not daily but every single hour

For a while I did but now I'm culpable

I should have protected it in times most vulnerable

Now my once most ravishing rose has suffered excruciating hurt

I wish I hadn't said anything,

I wish I wasn't so curt

Hindsight is always 20-20 vision

And now each night, each day I'm reminded of my initial mission

In penning this poem I really tried to find the most potent words to have you running to me without tarry

But by the second stanza I realised all I really wanted to say is, "Shermane, I'm sorry!"

- Jaipaul Powell