Poetry

POEM OF THE WEEK

I won't cry today

Finances are low

Business is slow

Love's gone, but I must hold on

And escape from the darkness to light

'cause I won't cry today

Feeling sorry for myself

I hold back the tears

I must persevere to conquer my fears

And look for good in the bad

'cause I won't cry today

The going is rough, but I can't give up

No matter how difficult it gets

I strive for happiness

Tomorrow will be better, I say

'cause I won't cry today

- S. Dionne Phillips


Winter

Now in this winter's heat all is burnt

Children adventure through dry rivers as frozen fires try to melt the waters

All is blanketed white and the crystal flake storm raves on amid hibernation

Cough out your colds and inhale the splinters of heat while hugging yourself to sleep

It will be a long night and hope of warm comfort will not ride on the morning, should the dawn come

Now the sun is just a star, seen but not felt; the frost it cannot melt

Winter never interferes with the summer so common courtesy dictates the affected fate

Hidden behind icy clouds the sun waits but never tries to stand out, it stays in its cocoon of summers past

So winter rides on the wind and howls in joy on its happy trail of ice-stained streets, sniffles and leafless trees to create a white sphere sculpture of gloom and doom with sun as witness

Carry on, winter, carry on through your quarter, for you days are numbered

Sun, wind and rain will avenge and other elements will rise up against you in time

You will never be superior to the others so be kind to the earth

Or you will find yourself a dry planet of skulls and bones

With a history of balanced harmony and a future of frozen desert ice

- Addeah McDove

New York

Streetsides breathing suds of snow

over cars blooming white beards and ears but then

you warmly hear, "Bwoy, dis nuh fair!"

Smoke flapping wings over jerk chicken

but the flavour kinda flap

No balm of the morning rising over blue

mountain crest to give you that yes! yes!

No streetside music, no island bliss

Sunlight rupturing misty fog but light is cold

The spirit rises but cannot hold

two trains rocking sleep from Bronx to Flatbush -

tired, work, sleep, going home

It's winter and suffering hands rub to gather but there is no hope

Doughnuts, star bucks, pushing illusions to the edge

of being human -

Droplets of cotton softly patting random

backs

as one zigzags and slips - teeth knocking knees

knocking -

until you hear these warming words

"Bwoy, ih cowl!"

- Homer Sylvester

Life

Was not offered a choice but was forced upon, it is a gift or a nuisance.

Shape and create what seems to be, influenced by those of heart and those aimed to defeat.

To become a norm, continuing a journey that can never be complete.

Like a wheel round and round to see a reflection of creation

It is near, it is regret, or satisfaction or unanswered question

- Weston WIlliams

Light

Darkness slowly evaporated

My heart rose with a steady vibration

My love is never unrated

Emotions rising to a celebration

Soon the moon will sing a love tune

A love tune with passionate elegance

She will herself to glance, dance, prance, and chance.

Love expectations is love expecting

Darkness is broken up, shattering to a splendid crescendo

Light spills over and over again

As I meet her lips with a searing, burning kiss

Filled with passion and light

- Brian Stephenson


Old cloth

Can't fight over old cloth

Dirty, soiled, brown red with mud

Death has taken a grasp of those fabric

It can't be renewed, mildew whatever the hue

Blue, purple, green, black, grey fabric

Polyester, gaberdine, press, wash an wear

Neon pink pale lime green

Textile

"Consider the lilies, not even Solomon...."

Did bash and bling

Cover up in some heavenly garb, the whole armour ...

- Helen-Ann Elizabeth Wilkinson

Flow

These are the words of my chord song

Could you feel it?

Lazy is the tune that draws out so long

Could you experience it?

The sound has drown my ear

Could you hear it?

If the song has touch you not to fear

Could you answer it?

- Brian Stephenson

A mother's cry

Justice, justice

I need justice

Lady, don't cry

Weh the justice deh, weh him gone

'im must hear yuh cry an soon answer yuh call.

Justice - day and night yuh mother cry

And yuh won't answer her call

What a man hard fi hear

Justice - answer nuh!

Mi tired fi hear the mother shout and cry fi yuh

Wait, I hear a rushing sound

Listen, there is hope

Look, at last, im deh come

- Mandege


Ruth and Naomi

This story is clever

Speaks to the responsibility

Of care to the 'elder' widow woman

It is not so much that the

Names of Ruth and Naomi are from the Bible

But about social care

We have benefited from their

Sweetness and labour (pun intended)

Why should we go on our way

Knowing that they cannot

Make the journey on their own?

Ruth knew Naomi at

Her age

Could not handle that

Country road much less carry bag

Reach back fram where she come back wid only de clothes

Pan she back nat ah ting fi show fi she years of

Labour

Or mount a donkey

She could no longer stand to cook in both meanings of the words

Clean house

What she had not lost was her sparkle

For understanding mankind

So she knew how to

Help her catch a really good man

Helping her to retain

The role of mother-in-law

Grandmother

Esteeming her status,

Refreshing her

Barren land.

Go back to where you came from? Orpah? Clearly not very progressive

Ruth choose a new land

New man

The older woman widow is very knowledgeable about men

Do not underestimate her power

She has been married, has had sons, she knows now how to live with and without a man

Many wonder why that one got the man?

Ever thought

Maybe she was 'nice' to his mother?

Or mothers of the society

who will back you up

Babysit so you can go on

That 'date'

Finance the 'courtship'

The clothes to attract the man

The strategies

For if one man in the yard, he is a kingpin for the extended family...

So don't go so uppity with your cycle

Youthful hormonal power full stops soon become one stream of consciousness

There is always an Elizabeth

Who will defy that time clock in more

Ways than one ....

Let Orpah have her opera

Up Ruth!

It is better to be where one can flourish, be fruitful don't Orpah

Have roots.

- Helen-Ann Elizabeth Wilkinson


Mi deya

Unoo quiet eh

Yes - shut yuh mouth

Don't talk what yuh know

Or dem wi burn yuh out or dun yuh in,

Yuh want get shot or go to jail

Yuh lucky if yuh reach deh, the job no done.

The state is always right - so no bother talk or fight

Yuh too fool,

Why unoo have a gun every time

If them murder yuh,

There is a gun on the scene of the crime all the time

Why yuh have it fah and whey yuh get it from

We won't know, because yuh no deh deh no more

Yuh see how de country a run

No wonder, when yuh ask some man

How yuh do

Him only can smile an sey to yuh - "mi deya".

- Mandege

Just a snap

She is the best part of me, I text her

I pray the night comes soon

I just snap my fingers and make the bedroom lights gentle

Snap and make the curtains open up halfway

Pray God keeps His creation still for eternity

The night magical and starry with the moonshine

As I look at the most wonderful face, smile and body

As we share the softest kisses for eternity

Honestly, I love her with all my life

- Kurt Brown