Poetry

POEM OF THE WEEK

CALL THE POLICE!

119

call the Police

911

Call the Police

even when they are not being paid

they lay down their lives for the state

in state, in spite of the state

in the state of the state

home and abroad serving above the senate

CALL THE POLICE

when we go berserk, overdue undue bills

CALL THE POLICE

I remember as a child, my Mother in her Mini, or Morris Minor or "Blue Bird" would drive

through the University Campus especially on route to the Health Centre

carefully over the "sleeping policemen"

I thought it was a mark of respect, that policemen were buried beneath

I know now that they were just "speed bumps" but important Police

everything serves a purpose

CALL THE POLICE

when civil society is really uncivil and everyone turns a blind eye

society and silver garrisons conclude no one has time to entertain your story or point of view

when no one else will intervene, the Police will take your story, your statement,

take your tears, your wailing

yet you blame them for internalising your sorrow and as a consequence they act in error

facing our terror

when they know the crime internal

done by those you call your own

the hidden deception. An Agatha novel? A missing person?

What exactly is buried in your backyard or just under your nose?

CALL THE POLICE

for all our sins, we wonder why the murder rate is the way it is?

it is because someone has not called the police

the continued collusion of silence, you bash that they take long to come, but you well know that

no one else is going to come

Shame on you! Tell me who really has the guts to visit the crime scenes?

Tell me now!

Yes it is their job, but what is yours?

Have you forgotten that the term 'Ministry' of 'whatever', you are to serve the people of the nation

God's people in that "whatever", no accountability?

no answer to letters, emails written, telephone calls?

Don't blame the Police, citizen

You charge them to pin down the "TINTED PARTY BUSES",

I ask the POLICE as a citizen of this country

to "ferret" out THE LACK OF TRANSPARENCY IN SO MANY DOMAINS

it is an insult to people

call the things "department"

what kind of gospel, what kind

of 'MINISTRY?'

CALL THE POLICE

they are coming to your door

without breaking in

rescuing Mother and Child

for God's Sake CALL THE POLICE!

they will be there

to plant the necessary restraining order

even if God seems nonresponsive

Superintendent,

Inspector,

Officer ....

Thank you!

- Helen-Ann Elizabeth Wilkinson

Nation's pride

We attempt to emulate them,

The same people that defame our name,

They laugh and ask the question again

What are you saying?

Using the same pit pat, we say it again

"Mi wan wata,"

No sir, it is "I want water"

What is in a language if not our identity

The same thing as our conscious livity

But they distort the truth, think again...

Destroy the truth

Replace it with their self-made histology

Baffle our senses through our anatomy

Marketing is one hell of a thing

The land of opportunities, seriously?

Look at mi!

Am I simply a puppet to the puppeteer?

Look past the whitewash and see the structure clear

They know it to be true and so should we

We are Jamaicans , the real land of the free

Cut from greatness, them cant stop wi

And that's why massa ah try hold wi!

- Ty'Neil Taitt

The curious pen ... (Can I pay for your attention)

If intoxication is the drug;

I see addiction in the windows to your soul in my sight,

I overdose on beauty hoping to never go blind,

only seeking to conquer the wages of this lustful life;

and in your debt I will pay for a priceless stone

but what is a priceless stone to a Queen on her throne?

I lost my faith in the embodiment of perfection

so I visualize your art from an artist's perception,

I capture your essence with the quell of old,

so I call you El Dorado, the city of Gold.

I store your monument in my memory banks and keep my eyes

focused till old age forces me to relax.

I see all that I can and write to no avail,

there is not a page in existence that can restrain my brain,

I could plot and write and decipher your frame,

but the mechanics of your mind denies me time again.

I am the Napoleon of literature when word play conquers attention,

the Da Vinchi of my craft when the blank page evokes my intention

but for you I'm the Mozart,

The genius that composes your laugh on a thousand strings,

I choose to piece together your puzzle, cause your issues are vast within.

- Dwayne TheGifted Grant 'Made To Write'


My garden

In the stillness of the morning

That quiet time of day

Is when I most want your presence

In a very special way

Visit my garden

Smell the fragrance of my flower

Take your time

Make it your home for at least the next hour

Touch the soft petals

Feel the coolness on your hands

Explore the wonders of nature

Watch how the flower blooms on command

Enjoy each precious moment

Until you come again

To visit my garden

Especially after it rains.

- DSD


If but only for a time

Life is a mysterious fascination. It has a distinct desire along its path, to always ensue to teach

something new. A change in a path of mindset, it captivates yet it promises a new clue.

If only but for a moment in time, life allows a pursuit of happiness in the willingness of an

ability of a being to partake and open wide a smile that resonates from within.

Across the shores came an unrealised purpose to show a new way of love, that it can be done

and instilled an idea.

A moment in a new found adventure awakened a lifeless beating heart. The calmness from the

shores and wittiness from the thoughts acknowledged the fact that but only for a time a

perception created, but an unwillingness to let go of the realisation that across the shores came

Life's beauty but only for a time. The grace in a plea, may time not fulfill its destiny.

Across the shores, the intake of the air will deflate as time and destiny works synonymously. To

let go and learn to float alone, accept that lesson has been shown that revealed an unheard story

in a crossing of a course between the shores and its sands with a bittersweet memory.

Across the shores came but only for a time, to unwrap the joy of a gift that Love in a heart is

indeed possible again.

- Diana M. Williams 'Made To Write'


You say you love me

You say you love me, but your actions show otherwise.

You say you love me, but are you telling me a lie?

It no longer seems as though you love me because it's been weeks

Since you've called my name.

Then I see you with her and think to myself "Does he still love me?"

So tell me now, are going to come back and say you love me ?

Is that the truth or is it another one of you lies?

- T.D.W


A thought

It all happened

Suddenly

I was in class

With the mentality

To learn my geometry

However

The distractions came by

Directly

And I sat there hopelessly

Trying to figure out

How this whole thing

Fits me

Studying

For what I don't even

Want to be

But consciously

Thinking about

The reality

To quit something

I started

Isn't totally me

But to pursue something

Unwanted

That's one thing

I don't foresee

I either love it

Or set it free

Because

What's life

Worth living

If you're not planting

What you want to reap?

- Theresa Peters

Memories

Maybe it is the painted

Rooster bending its

bellowing neck towards the sunlit

sky

or,

maybe its the scent of ackee, salt fish

'Gainst roasted breadfruit,

rising over warm degrees

Maybe its the reggae sound,

floating over white rum, Guinness

and the jerked pork smoke

Maybe its sound clash "Calling all John Crows

sound bwoy a heng pan life support!!"

or maybe it's the bob of love upon a bubbling land

Maybe it is the markets, the guineps, mangoes and street noises

or the pure Jamaica voice, free from the America twang

Maybe its Blue Mountains, rising against deep flames of blue

or the swollen evening sun, sinking amid a fabric of colours

maybe it the air of love, while breathing snow

one thinks of home.

- Homer Sylvester