Poetry (2)

To tell me

That you love me?

Are you bold enough

To hold me close to you?

So let our wings of love

Ride the clouds in the night

Kiss me in my dreams

So I will never awake

But only dream of you

You can take my heart

Just don't break it apart

Tender kiss

Tender hearts

Entangled with never-

Ending love

And I will wait by the phone

For your call

Wear your fragrance

Of the residue you left

On my pillow

So

Are you bold enough

To tell me

That you love me?

Are you bold enough

To hold me close to you?

So let our wings of love

Ride the clouds in the night.

- Christena Williams

The Gleaner

Thank you

You give unknown voices

A place to express thoughts

Ideas

Secrets

A place where we can be ourselves

You give us exposure

And the confidence for poetry

We honour you

For giving us this opportunity

Now Jamaica has many voices

The Gleaner Company

Made a writer out of me

And I was implored to

Find hidden feelings

Scars

Pains

And a treasure to impact lives

We were barred by cost, and other obstacles

From becoming published

But you stepped up to the plate

And now

In few words

In poetic style

I honour you

The Gleaner Company.

- Christena Williams
__________________________

The king of reggae

I wasn't of existence at the time the king died

But hearing his motivating songs

At times I still cry

His inspiring words have touched so many hearts

It's so sad he had to depart

'One love' is a universal song

People of all different languages around the world love to sing along

He didn't literally shoot the sheriff

But someone sure shot him

Not uncommon for this world to try to assassinate a king

Get up, stand up

Stand up for your rights

In April, 1978 he made two political leaders unite

Mr Marley

A buffalo soldier

A dreadlock Rasta

The man from Trench Town

He's the king

The one who wears the reggae crown

He put Jamaica on the map

It's a small island

But when it comes to reggae music

We're on top

Don't worry

Every little thing is gonna be alright

The king is gone

But his music lives on.

- Dwayne S. Mattis
_____________________

Drummer boy

There are drums beating

in my heart for you

Drums of regret coiling

with each beat

When the rhythm of the drum plays

I can hear the sorrow in your voice

Are there homes for these beating drums?

Do you recognise my concern

matched with each beat?

I'll do a deep bass when I feel it most

Drums talking through your feet

It will take three good slaps

for me to break

Yes I remember how you slapped

those goat skins for cash

for free

When you died you took all my rhythms from me.

- Cleopatra Young
_________________________

The system

You claim that I don't want to listen to reasoning, but you never speak the truth

I'm not accepted in your clique because I disagree with your evil schemes

You think that I'm a slow learner but what you teach is not worth learning

I don't have to listen to what you say because I can see what you do

You keep promoting prejudice and stigma in the society

You're nothing but a discriminator, a victimiser, a liar and a thief

What makes you think that I would trust or believe anything that you say?

You sold me an expensive key that doesn't fit any lock

You taught me to knock on a door that never opens

How can I survive in your little beehive?

You keep milking my sweat in the name of taxes and filling my head with empty promises

With corrupt people like you I don't take chances

You gave me nothing, but from me you took away everything

You label me lazy and unwilling when all you pay me is a useless shilling

It's clear that you're an opportunist and an exploiter

I'm tired of your false preaching and wrangling

Go and clean up your judicial system

Your so-called justice is far too complicated.

- Marlon Pitter
___________________________________

Black and proud?

I might not know a lot about our black history

But I know enough to know that I should be proud

Proud of who I am, how I am made and of my history

I used to hate black history

I hated the way we were portrayed as being the weaker, inferior race

I hated to see those movies of our black ancestors being taken advantage of

So to avoid feeling hurt or degraded, I abstained

from all violent or degrading history of our black people

However, I never allowed anyone to make me feel inferior

I always gave the impression that I was proud of every single part of this anatomy

Yes, there were days when I didn't feel as beautiful

when all I could see was my skin colour and not my beauty

but I brushed that aside

I saw myself as a beautiful black girl who held her head high and was confident in herself

We have been told from slavery days that our skin colour was inferior

and that once you have a lighter skin tone you are superior and should command respect

The Europeans have left us with the idea that they were superior

But I have got beyond that and we all should

Am I proud? Absolutely!

I have come to a realisation that black people are a proud race

We have achieved so much and when we start holding our heads high

We should stop putting our fellow brothers and sisters down and rise to our full potential

We have the mind to do great things - that's why the Europeans saw us and captivated us

And tried to put us down

They saw our hard work and that we were destined for greatness

Let us not disappoint our forefathers and instead rise to this greatness.

- Ashea West
____________________________________________

Are you ready, world?

Believing is seeing

For my little eyes

Open wide for a big surprise

Oh, I wish, I wish

I dare to dream

A little girl's soul coming out of me

Shine bright

Let it blow out of your heart

Show the world that you are ready to start

Carry yourself with control

Bring God in that big loving soul

Hello world, are you ready for me?

Yes world, it's time to believe

That this little heart will never stop

It is really, really, ready to pop

Hey Lord, this is great

I know you are proud of me

This means that you are not late

Yeah, big brother

Hi, loving mother

Yes, great father

I know you are all here to see

Are you really ready, world?

Ready for me?

- Jada Serena-Lauren Buchanan
___________________________________

Reality check

What is real?

Is it what we see or feel?

What really matters?

Is it this life that death shall shatter?

How can you love nature and not your Creator?

Can't you see God in the mountains?

The free-flowing fountains

The whales that swim

Testify of him

Can't you see God in the bees?

The breeze in the trees

The birds that chirp

The babies that burp

The life he gives makes everything live

And if you think the girls are fine

Well they were made in his design

And all that's beautiful reflects his beauty

To serve him is our duty

This is a test, so open your eyes

The devil is a deceiver, don't buy his lies

Good things come to those who for God wait

It's with patience we will see the pearly gate.

- Seon Lewis