Anything for my child

My three-year-old says he whispers in her ear

Obviously not things I should hear

But he does not stop there

He touches her

Touches her repeatedly

In her face

Her neck

Her arms

Wherever is exposed

Again he whispers in her ear

Then he zooms into a spot that entices him

He pierces her

And not before long he's bloating with blood

My three-year-old cannot distinguish the gender so he turns out to be a she

Stealing my child's blood

So hers can survive

From the dead comes no tale

I didn't give her the chance to tell me what she whispered in my child's ear.

-Leonia Mckoy

_____________________________

The heart's wish

Like a Christmas flower waiting for the cold winter

Like a beautiful rose waiting for the busy bee

So I wait for love to come knocking at my door

But when will you come, my love?

When will you come?

Will you wait until my walls come crumbling down?

Or when the blood stops flowing through my veins?

My love, I long for the day when I too will sing like a lark flying from tree to tree

When I will laugh like a mountain stream gushing over the rocks in its path

When I will soar like an eagle in search of prey

Yes, I yearn for the day when you will come my way

And this, my love, is my most fervent wish.

- Shirley Falconer

____________________________________

The promise

I promise to give you my heart and that we will never be apart

I promise never to lie to you but stick with you is what I will do until this day on, we will continue to endure and carry on

Until death I promise to love and

Comfort you and hope that you will feel the same way too

Loving you is all I need to see heaven's beauty and feel

nature's breeze

I promise to keep you by my side and I want to know you will always be my guide

God knows how much I love you he knows I really do and I hope you

will love me just as I love you.

I promise to keep you calm and use my arms to keep you warm Promises are hard to keep but baby you know I will not cheat

A relationship needs love to

prosper so if you want your relationship to last, darling

let's go on and don't let love pass.

- Chevelle Liscombe

___________________________________

Disconnection

Meanings are slowly changing

I see its routines in places and in the pleasantries of peoples

I see them all but from a distance

My world has not met theirs

Theirs have disconnect

She is missing

She can't walk anymore

She can't talk anymore

On the shelves there is nothing for me

On the stalls there is nothing for me

All belonged to her

She is gone with my world

I walk alone

Voices are beckoning

They are asking questions

They are making statements

I hear "where is your mother?"

"Haven't seen your mom for a while"

For a moment I feel connected

There is meaning

But my replies remind me of that reality - I walk alone

The birds still come for their food

Beggars still knock on the door

The plants still need watering

Their world remains unchanged

Mine is different

New meanings have and are emerging

Death now has new meaning

Sleep now has new meaning

"Weep not; she is not dead but sleepeth"

And, hope now has a meaning

The day will dawn again

The sun will rise again.

- Hilda Ming

_____________________________

Only God knows

How long before I can have back your heart?

How much longer will it take to have a new start?

How much longer can I hold on to hope?

I am feeling that I'm at the end of my rope

I will pray once again, that he'll help me fight

To hold on one more day and hold on one more night

Hold on to a love, that she has let go

In the hope what's now gone, can flourish and grow

In my direction your breeze will blow

And this time you don't flop my show.

- Mark Grant

_______________________________

The cold front

Twenty degrees, 19 degrees

Still going down

Icy winds convert

A smile into a frown

Penetrating the single layer

That now protects the skin

Crying out for more protection

As pin-like injections

Move from outside in

Lips pasted with shiny lubricant

A shield from the desiccant

Which fans the face

Extracting moisture

Threatening to create caverns

As in a clay place

Leather jackets

Hands tucked deep within

Securely hidden from the air

That can drain warm blood from there

Wollen winter coats

Trapping warmth that exudes from the skin

Protecting muscles now contracting from deep within

Raising temperatures

So cells can continue the job by rote

Hooded jackets covering

Small protruding sound collectors

Vibrations impeded, voices raising

Conversations no longer entertaining

Heads bowed

Effortlessly protecting the moisture-covered cheeks

Eighteen, 16, 15 degrees Celsius and counting as we speak.

- Audette Baillie

___________________________

The perfect sweetheart

I didn't know you but my eyes caught you

The moment I saw you my heart leapt to see

My future in a big love nest

you are, sweet you

Smart, my heart, my heart is for you my sweetheart

You phone, you text and you never get upset, you care

For me you share with me

What more can you give?

To me, my heart is blessed without stress

God showed his light in your heart

My eyes reach and my spirit

caught

Love is loving you

Now and forever

Never stop loving

You.

- Chevelle Liscombe

_____________________________

You in me, me in you

You chose me

so did I, you

as the one for true

with whom to be

with whom to be we

always, still we are free

The god in me

the god in you

the gods of we

out of many one, for true

still always, each being free

The love for you

that love in me

for all and sundry to see

free for you to see, for true

you, me, free, always still free

Do not ask me

to be set free

never could I, never would I

never should you let me

set limits to your liberty

you would and should not let me

look deeply into yourself

you will probably see

reflections of also me.

- Cornelius Wilson

__________________________

Celestial traffic

Of almost 365 days

tonight

I was briefly wrapped up in your arms

lost in the beat of your heart

my eyes closed to the rapidly

approaching dawn that

whisks you away

I closed my eyes

lost my face in

the softness of your throat

and wept silently.

- Rhonda Harrison

_________________________

The plus factor

Luck, alertness, inventiveness

Call it what you like, never say can't get rid of the T, you can

The margin between success and failure was often

Willingness to make the extra effort, go the mile, endure

the extra hardship

Never stop dreaming, set high and worthwhile goals

Encourage creative ideas Ignorance can block it

Fear can block it, envy, hatred anger, negative thoughts, selfish actions

Just keep on dreaming, dream long, dream big, dream strong

You will need to shape them focus on them, hammer them down to their essence

No wind favours him who has no destined port, no clear-cut goals in life is forever doomed

To sail in circles, always frustrated, always rudderless just sailing on and on, never

getting anywhere, time to make the right turn in life.

- Ruby Lee

____________________________

The Earth atones

Late night, silence

Shattered by the bark of the gun

The Ak47, the M16 and Smith&Wesson

The land cries out

Drunk from innocent blood

A dark shadow

Unseen to the eyes of men

Lurks by those who selfishly flood the earth

To torture in retribution

In a day

Week

Month

Year

Decade

Retribution is sure

Without intervention due to sincere repentance.

- Shelly-Ann Woolery

__________________________

In a flash

In a flash

A million and one things happens

My heart beats

It says your name

Someone dies

Another feels pain

The sky turns black

There's a burst of rain

Something is lost

Another thing gained

The temperature changes

Climate stays the same

Something is disowned

While something is claimed

Someone has won

Someone has lost a game

My teardrops fall

Again and again

In a flash

Things happen for true

Because between a zillion flashes

I'm thinking of you!

- Veronia Jackson

__________________________

In the moonlight

The fruits I bear belong to you

And not because I want them to

But it is the fact that you and I

Immersed in the moonlight - cried

We shed, we bled and like a river

Running into the sea

So did you in me

It was the most natural thing to do

Two becoming one, awakening in the

Canary sun,

Departing as familiar strangers,

When in reality we have become

Bearers.

- M.C. Lawrence

________________________________

I write this poem, why?

I write this poem, why?

'Cause I don't write poems

I don't read poems

I don't like poems

I write this poem, why ?

Because it has no meaning

It has no metaphor

It doesn't even rhyme

It has nothing

I write this poem, why?

I'm not even getting paid to do it

I'm not being forced to do it

I won't be affected if I do it

So why do I write it ?

For writing's sake.

- Anonymous

Send us your poems! If you would like to have your poems published in The Sunday Gleaner, send them to us at 7 North Street, Kingston or via email at editorial@gleanerjm.com. Not all poems will be published.