POEM OF THE WEEK - A coal lesson

• POEM OF THE WEEK - A coal lesson

A coal lesson in Papine Market ...
is me faas
want to learn
how to use
coal pot
instant tutorial
Professor in tow
it was a practical demonstration of how
to "lay de coal
can be done in a car/vehicle rim
Mek sure air can breeze into de bottom"
not complete
the other "market students" tell me how to do it: "stuff de bottom with a plastic bag"
The professor tells me how to put "bringle" to make the fire
everyone chips in
telling me how to buy the coal, $100 dollar a bag
a woman advices, "You can buy the big bag for $700 and sell back for $1,000"
Professor all give me brawta
explaining the intricate dealings of keeping a fire going:
"Is a good idea
save money from light bill
gas"
... It could have been a flash-black
Papine, hundreds of years ago
having been a slave market where there was human produce ...
I come out of my trance ...
It burn out Portmore mosquitoes
cut de grass
keep me, this servant girl hot-soup and corn-boiling business,
but not warming up like Peter to betray
- Helen-Ann Wilkinson

•  Prejudice

Judge me not based on class!

Have your ethics and morals graduated, totally dissipated?

Please do not devour

Because of my skin colour,

Abusing your power.

Surely this world is not yours, but ours

Society justice just-ice cold

To many lost souls,

Rejected as orphans by the system.

Such a harsh reality,

They turn to criminality.

"At least now we are wanted,"

they chanted ...

Lights dim, freed, yet socially imprisoned

Brutally our minds still colonialised

Inferior complex superiority still actively resides;

Still racially divided, creole of our forefathers chastised

Where is our identity?

Our story instead of history,

Our mind still ploughed and yoked on their plantation

We need emancipation

So pay attention!

Stop the prejudice!

Stop thinking, continuously sinking in this abyss

Delusional that you are better

For have not you all the weakness as me?

If cut, don't you bleed?

May your conscience feverishly burn

Because, in the end, to dust don't we all return?

- Omar Jackson

• Safe

Safe.

Why worry? Why fear?

There is no need.

Like building blocks, my love will erect a fortress

to guard your heart.

Keep well.

Make your ears deaf against their ill-natured speech.

Their words can do no harm.

For there is no hurt you feel that my love cannot heal

And whatever pain they inflict are temporary wounds.

Do not surrender, try as they will.

No white flag will be hoisted

Instead, light a fire.

Light a fire

And let it burn

Let them watch as your doubts and their twisted dreams

Go up in smoke

Then stand triumphant

From bondage you have broken loose

And with your renewed hope,

You shall carve a new path.

Your very own.

And the truth you will find - you are never

Alone.

- Rowen Antoine

• Du sup'm!

Som man a gwaan like dem dumb, deaf an blind.

Dem have a tick veil ova dem mind.

No work! No success! Nut'n dem cah find!

Yu is a wasta if yu nah seh nar du nut'n!

Man fi flex like real man an kip him yeye op'm.

What eva it is, di man dem fi du sup'm!

Some man nuh wah wuk. Dem mus be crazy!

Some man a gwaan like Suzan or Daizy.

Some man jus downright wuklis, disgusting an lazy!

Op'm yu yeye an jell sup'm!

Op'm yu mout an tell sup'm!

Op'm yu house an sell sup'm!

Yu too bruk!

Yu don't even have a buk!

Gu look wuk;

Mek Wuk;

Drive Truk!

Du sup'm! Try yu luk!

Ooman an pikni hungry. Dat nuh sweet!

Man breed ooman an him don't even have icy mint fi gi har fi eat!

Ask! Seek! Knock! Find sit'n an dweet! Dweet! Dweet!

Yu dun fail aredi if yu nah du nut'n. Yu will nat succeed!

Som man a wuk ova time but a only ooman dem a breed.

Six deh pah di way an him alredi have four hungry bellies fi feed.

Some ooman nah learn.

Dem nah wuk.

Nuh money nah earn.

Yet dem a breed again.

Nuff pikni like wata lily an fern!

Lazy wuklis, gud fi nut'n man!

A yu mi a taak! Yu have weed a crush up eena yu han!

Tek weh yuself fram yah an gu farm up di lan!

Yu is a likkle weed hed!

Yu live pah ganja an yu cyaan even buy bred!

Yu ooman dem an pikni hungry. Dem a ded!

Du sup'm! Tek yu lazy self outa di bed!

Yu is a wasta if yu nah seh nar du nut'n!

Man fi flex like real man an kip him yeye op'm.

Whatever it is, di man dem fi du sup'm!

Du sup'm!!!

- Anthony E. Morgan

• Too many

Too many, too many

young men dead

too many, too many

mothers crying

you could get a tape and just play it over and over

predictable nightly news

bawling, head tie up

sometime a father by her side wondering how this happen? what went wrong?

sacrificed to buy and sell

always it is a good boy

for years

mother and family

did without to feed the youth

now when him come

of age to be able to

help the family even sell an extra bag juice

when

mother

need the help no man, she cursed, no man, no man from the start

now

this end

too many

I stood by the corners, near enough to major hospitals

carpenter shop turn coffin place

joinery

dismantling

joints

to advertise they could have a wreath bearing the words 'Son'

By the evening sundown, there would be so many mothers wanting

a wreath for a 'Son',

For sure they would be at least a few pronounced dead

No money to cry

The sounds of "No woman nuh cry" hardy make sense....

Is there anything to smile about?

- Helen-Ann Wilkinson

• The fixer

Every 'talk' initiated blows up into argument

Every word spoken by one is mistaken by the other

A wall lies between them-a strong wall

A wall carefully built by both their hands

A wall with a hole for penetration.

After that?

Nothing else, pure froth

Slime, muck, maggots, germs, scum - a festering sore, oozing with pus that runs thickly down the wall

Accompanied by buzzing flies and hovering crows

Waiting to lay and pick away at this sickening scene

The stench is high

No one who passes with noses uncovered remains the same

Each unprotected passer is stained by the stench thereof-contaminated.

Each, except one.

His name is Jesus

He comes and fixes the wall-breaks it down.

- Corrie Cunningham-Brooks