Poetry

POEM OF THE WEEK

Sound clash

The duel's on, when the night air

floats to the ambience of vying foods, of roasting

corn and fish and chicken and goat head soup

It's the battlefield, when the urine smell of

marijuana merges with the creeping

scents of cologne and the DJ shouts

'Buy yu spade!'

The agony starts, when the flickering garments of

the masses skip with the crashing lights and a DJ

responds

'Buy yuh grave!'

It's the war, between the cane man peeling away at

profits and the high end pealing

'Soh yu waan com trace mi? meck sure yu can play mi!'

It's the judgement, when the foaming suds of Guinness

can't wash away the blows of dub plates meeting

dub plates around the sirens wailing and the

masses shouting 'Drum fi dead!'

It's the preckey, amidst the the sharpened edges

of cutting tweeters as bodies vibrate to the gravity of massive

bass and taunts - while guns erupt, and the Police

coming - and the judges figuring

- Homer Sylvester

Retirement Road

They know him well

the passengers

at this time of the day

he mounts the bus

passers by at this time of the day help him

he says "thanks" they shrug "goodbye", "No big thing ... Daddy"

an innocent male youth gets instructions

from a fashion good buys hustler with clothes really short shorts on hangers in the bus

on how to fold the wheel chair

the passengers have to tell him to

carry the wheelchair to the back door

not through the front door

he does not know how to fit

the wheelchair under the seat

He asks someone "You know the man?"

someone answers "Yes, him gwine come off at Retirement Road"

the young man nods agreeing to hold the wheel chair on the steps

it is the passengers at this time of the day

that know it is the old man's appointment at the clinic

the young man looks out for the bus stop

he packs down the wheelchair

the man descends slowly down the steps of the bus

he is put in the wheelchair

he is now at Retirement Road

He is safe, He know his way from there...

as far as we know...

the demographics are frightening

you would see it on charts in statistics

or download from the World Health Organization website

but you don't have to get that technology

Stand in the lines at the Jamaica Public Service or any other utility

The senior citizens lines juxtaposed visually with regular service line tells the tale

more tellers needed for the Gold Club at the bank

those sandwiched between giving care

get aid from the young

but what will be left of them to care for with hands stretched to care

paying spike bills to caregivers 24/7?

Retirement road,

the ad is wrong,

he did prepare

but not for this

- Helen-Ann Elizabeth Wilkinson

Talk Shakespeare to me

Thouest my love

Flattering like a sparrow

Chirp and sing melodies

Then thou art take this love

Let us travel like travelling musicians

Breaking down China's wall

Rebuilding Berlin

Asleep we lie in the king's palace

Take this heart

As if, we were Romeo and Juliet

Underlying passion

If we must die

I wish to die in love

Holding you with clutch hands

Like sinking titanic

Whisper

Soft

In my winter's heart

Slowly

Take me into a trance

Like a summer's night dream.

- Christena A.V. Williams

People with disability

People with disability are all round the world

They are big people

They are little people

They are all so different

Don't hide them away from the sight of anyone

Don't lock them away behind doors and iron bars

Don't keep it as a secret that you should never tell

Tell it expose it you did not make it so

They are different

Yes they are different

Accept them the way they are

Don't scorn them

Don't scare them

They need your attention your help and your care

Tell it to others how different

One is who uses his foot as a hand to write

and to draw and to grip a spoon or a fork and eat food

They are phenomenal

They can surprise you

They can make you wonder

People with disability

They are so different

- V. Ricketts