Poetry - Monologue of an Unwanted Child

• Monologue of an Unwanted Child

No more condemnation

No more contempt

Although there was so much confusion

And controversy when I was conceived

Everybody's love now converges on me

I receive your constant attention

I'm convivially accepted

Because Mommy did not conform

To contraception

The confirmation was painful

And her condition hard to confess

Yes, she conspired

To keep it confidential

Until it became conspicuous

And could no longer be concealed

But now I'm flooded with congenital love.

Despite being convicted of me

When I was confined to her womb

I've managed to convince you

You welcomed me with consistent care

Although it made you seem to lack control

and you lost confidence in her

Although it wasn't convenient,

You and others continue to contribute

To my life.

You've found ways to convey affection

Now Mommy is consoled

And the pregnancy condoned

She deserves to be congratulated

For concluding with me.

- Orette C. Burke

• Island Girls Poetry

A poem for all the victims of the savage attack in Irwin, St James, Jamaica. The poet Vernon Films is outraged at the treatment of Jamaican women.

Island girls are poetry

Give them wings,

Let them be, they will fly

Don't hold them back,

Don't tear them down to cry

Don't take their wings away.

Just give them wings,

Make them strong

And strong they will fly

And they must fly.

Cause if they die,

We die in them.

- Vernon Films

• RAPE, yuh betta run

You missa man, your unwanted time has begun

And your fatality has finally come

Drop your knife, fling weh yuh gun

And outa di Jamaican woman dem life yuh betta run

Lef' town go a country - we ago hunt yuh dung

Run from country come a town - Mr Rape, we ago bring yuh dung

Afta di great Olympics, our progressive run yuh waa come rape dung

You foul Spirit Rape, yuh betta run

The deaf can hear you

The blind can see you

And the dumb is speaking to you saying

Rape, from Jamaica yuh betta run!

The security forces are against you

The church families are praying against you

The Most Honourable Portia Simpson Miller

Nuh like yuh

The Honorable Andrew Holness

Ago grab yuh and beat yuh

Don't look at my mother

Let go of the skirt of my sister

Don't drag my aunt into the bushes

How dare you look lustfully at my brother?

Rape, mi seh yuh betta run!

You are poisoning the mind of our children

Taking away their innocence and breaking their future

Poisoning our women with your sting, you old abuser

After what happened in Irwin Point, St James

Things will never be the same

Friday, we all BLACK yuh

And afta dat, we ago BAX yuh

Nuh try it wid yuh bribe

Wi nuh want yuh money

Wi want yuh family

Like Pharaoh - including your first-born son

Rape, yuh betta run

And even when yuh take the wings of the morning

Wi ago run yuh dung

Rape!

Jamaica ago knock yuh dung

- Daron Chosen Smith