Untitled Two

Like an avalanche at times
a cascading litany in voices screaming
the litany of a raging fire that I contain
no heat this fire but raging it is
I sit smoking as like an avalanche
the voices beat on my mind
juxtaposed to my silent indignation

Untitled One

When we cry
And we’re in sync
Without knowing what to feel
Or even if we think
We’re at the low
Of a high
Just letting go
You and I cry

Like love
Not to be touched
A thing never felt
Swollen eyes tell
Of pain welled
But never seen
Washed in tears
That don’t leave us clean

No scar
Have I loved more
No heart ever more sore
Through one
Two now speak
One bold feeling
The other meek
Tears clinging cheek

Inspiration nothing more
As it all springs
The devil in me
Says sing just sing
Who knows what this is
Loves true voice
Or my ego just mouthing
A man without choice

When you love like we do
Borrowed lines
Fit like your own shoe
No one knows
But the owners heart
If love is the point
Where the two part

Whose was it ever
When it feels so good
Taking pains to be understood
Whats not mine
I care for still
Standing on the borrowed
Hoping to build.

Musing

Days ago I let one go
All for you just couldn’t show
Faced with thoughts worth escaping
But getting away felt like slaving

Before me never but on my mind
Space and time are so unkind
Of fruity teas I reminisce
And dream of tomorrow’s bliss

Along ridges undenied
Lips conjured what couldn’t hide
Images doth betray
My heart frozen so couldn’t say

Hallmark moments and too of tea
A scone at Serendipity
That place I loved but never knew
Just how I feel when I see you

Bait or trait Im caught leg bye
How I resist how I try
A reason to write
Love sounds so trite.

Word

I don’t like the world
I found
I found that I don’t like the world
It feels nothing for me
And so I feel nothing but
Hate is not it
I don’t like fidelity
Nor infidelity
Not Fidel
Not Fidel
As opposed to
Or opposed to
I cant say
I cant say that
And so I don’t like the world I found
Time has not stood still
It just has not moved
Me
I move and get nowhere
As it spins below my feet
As fast as I move
At speed or slow
Nowhere I go
But back to that place
That I have found
That place called the world
I know nothing
I know nothing else
But oh can I say
Can I say I don’t like
The world I have found
Is established
It does not exist
It has happened
It’s a new world each moment
And yet maybe why
I don’t like the world I have found
I sometimes wake up to a beautiful place
Wake up from sleep
But again fall asleep
In this place
I can write anything
I can do anything
But all they say
Strip it away and still
I can say I don’t like the world
Im wrong and maybe that’s why
I don’t like the world
The experts fail at national security
The great taken down by lapses
And so I too lack security
Insecure slash singular
Its me in the world
Against nothing do I have it to compare
Nothing we say nothing we share
I care yes I care but do I dare lie
I have found I do not like the world
Nowhere to go
So much to do
For me?
You?
Who?
Ohhh...

Panorama

He got stuck by a geera chicken bone
As the crowd rose up in cheer
The winners of last year
The much revered
Making their way
On to the stage
A bid to go down in history’s page
They playing for victory or playing for fun
Every band playing
Playing to win
But more will lose so skin cyah be thin
Is rubber does make the notes ring out
And thrills and runs make pan lovers shout
Who’s judging though are the winners the best?
Nah man, on the road is the real test
This is part ah de ritual
It have money to win and prestige for a year
And when they add up we does really care
But community, oligarchy and tourists and friends
Bring glory to them from beginning to end
On the streets is a feel only some does enjoy
Sailor, Hawaiian and ambush men
Some hundreds strong others strong with ten
Back to tonight and the battle at hand
Who on the Greens and who in the Stands
Resolution to me is really key
And cleanliness, variation and harmony
Very few surprises but they are always nice
But not this year, they aint getting it twice
As good as you play at the end of the day
History some say goes man’s way
It have drinks in the cooler
And more food if yuh want
Talk to somebody, stop take a lime
Anything goes other than that the only crime
We used to storm long time but now like we shame
Some get pride and some get name
Policeman too step up their game
Is whole day we here
We does wait whole year
To come and share, come and stare
Some even come just to hear
It have plenty role that we does play
Vendor, media, pusher and stray
Some does be watching
Who knows thinking what
And some does be drinking
And what they drinking know not
Is one big party from morning to next
But this is just semis is in finals I does vex
It does be hard with so much going on
If the song good or "pan day" gone
They killing the ting with bad decision
But only one can win and so it does go on
A jewel in de Carnival crown
From year to year is cheers and tears
I say play to win and if you don’t
Play for love
And victory won’t be any other’s.

Rehab

sobriety and i wanted to adopt
the night we got married
doubt set in
like a rabid dog or a runaway slave
both named Cudjoe
what was felt was real
we thought of our plans
looking at each other
unsure
we wanted the same thing
without knowing if we wanted each other
the innocence, the peace
in our minds our pasts
marriage is funny, not a device to try
too no dictates from anyone
two now one, you work it out
i warned before the perfect get horn
sobriety was in for her dose
maybe it was the West Indian male in me
maybe i always knew she wasn't the one
but our goal, the adoption
when she failed me i would smile
thinking of what we wanted
on the night we got married

River Revisited

source is pure

destination forgiving



filled with silt

no longer clear

the waters of the river made brown

by heavy showers that sought

perhaps to wash all around me

to a place they felt clean

but the dirt now disturbed

by pesticide of farmers

trying to bolster their produce

improve their yield

the blood of the fallen

the smelter's poison

the sweat of those working

tirelessly in vain it seems

in pursuit of dirty money

that the rains could not wash clean

the air now polluted by screams for freedom

the voices of the scared

the noise of production

the sun shines rays of hope

absorbs

in this river i stand waist high

dare not submerge myself

beneath its murky surface

not even my faith strong enough

to stand a baptism in the waters

i helped dirty

tempting God

to fix even this.

HOPE

And someone said its all been done,
all been done.
But I,
I haven't done you
I haven't done you the favor
of telling you.
I haven't done you the favor of telling you
that you shouldnt jump.
Jump to conclusions
On silhouettes of truth
amidst perverse fiction.
Cause it probably started with a conflict within
and we have it down as the first sin
and the irony, the not so funny irony
is that now we're allowed to be
Allowed to be rotten to the core.

And someone said its all been done,
been done before.
But i haven't,
I haven't done you the favor,
the favor of telling you
that you,
you shouldnt jump,
jump to conclusions about who I am
based on foundations and lipsticks and rouge
and contouring.
You see I love me, but I love you more
And I pull and tuck my truths away
in federal places
and investigating will get you nowhere.
And the irony, the not so funny irony,
is that I told you all I know.

And somone said,
someone said its all been done before we were born.
All been done before we were born
and they called it destiny.
And the irony, the not so funny irony,
is that its not always destiny,
if you know what I mean.
And it might be,
might,
be,
because we dont all believe in it.

And someone said
someone said its all been done before...
But you.
you haven't done me the courtesy
of telling me why.
Because men jumped to their deaths
and men jumped to action.

And some say it is a he
And some say a she
And some say we are both
God and man
Two things i hope to understand.

On de insect side

hovering mosquito hovering

stinging mosquito stinging

humming mosquito humming

singing high

I lie on my back

singing loud and high

not as high as I have sung before

not as high as I've been before

but high i sing

of the base feelings of love

and the complexities of lust

as I reminisce about your sting

or was it a kiss

for the pain made me forget

and I now forget there was pain

as I long to hear you sing

so high you sing so loud

hovering mosquito hovering

stinging mosquito stinging

humming mosquito humming.

Prayers

A note in essence is a silent thing
but therein lies the danger
getting it from point A to point B
moreso when B is a stranger
so there i knelt on the pew
thinking of Jesus
while looking at you
without knowing
either of the two
praying to Jesus
that lightning dont strike me
just looking at you
and praying for reciprocity
praying to Jesus
that without a word
somehow
my note would be heard.

Rationale

Nature. Cross-pollination. Ideas. Looks. Individuals. Society. Agreement. Discourse. Progress. Values. Individuality. Authority. Institutions. Consistency. Communication. Trust. Love. Emotions. Actions. Multiplicity. Pluralism. Global. National. When I think of home.

Dividion

I'm divided many times over

And it means so too are we

Its clear, pun intended

That what is between us is space.

A silent partner in every race

There again meaning lost

Its duality reduced to nothing

The sum is its parts.

Using words it becomes art

Imitating lives I've seen lived

Its no choice that leaves me here

Sitting thinking of it all.

Listening, waiting for a call

My voice should tell

Its the way to go

Intuition and logic divided too.

A Song for Private Lee

Are there any in the army?
Any of a certain rank?
They fight and rise and die
they all do seem to tank.
Fighting for the same thing,
For love of country
Freedom, yes freedom we all sing.
In western parts a soldier thought
All my people seem to fight for nought.
We die unnoticed, live quietly.
No one yet sings for Private Lee.
A happier song I'll never hear
when white and black and brown declare
Never a braver soldier be
Than one as Private Lee.
He led not armies nor batallions
But for his people what he won
was place and rank among his men
but not as others like Custer or Patton.
But maybe this was not to be
that he was king of infantry.
In east his army all led by men
in green and men in red.
Fighting not for democracy
but night after night
for legacy and dynasty
and too for the right.
Across the seas that they did come
was not one man but many a sum.
It wont be fair to you or me
In this Republic song
To not sing for Private Lee
To sing it proud and strong.
It wont be easy to just say
why things did turn out that way.
But to let the world know
his day did come, he had to go
Private Lee, the work of the soldier done.
So lets hear it one more time
If only for the bloody rhyme
He did it not for you or me
The soldier Private Lee.

Of two drinks

Earl Grey sat before me

But at my core

I felt for robust and not full bodied.

The proverbial dark knight

that fills with charge

And yet sometimes leaves

unsatisfied.

Of bean and roast and brew

Not one who leaves when drawn

Not of Ceylon, Twinnings or Bigelow

While for the Earl

I do sometimes yearn

Not today

And maybe not tomorrow

You may, you may, you may

Have had your turn.

Stronger aromas beckon

Which may not deliver with taste

Whose fragrance is great

But may not in an instant deliver

The nuance you hold

Of drinks I think of you two

One drawn and sitting

The other maybe for brew

Of Blue Mountain

Or Moorish fields

The highs and lows

of moments say more than I care to

There is pleasure in the pace

Both holding their own space

Without either to another place

One sparking flame

The other making tame

A tale of two drinks

And maybe more

For as you may know

Its a tale of four

And this the thing

For one the writing

Of which has not been fun

A Napa wine

To drunken writer

But say what of it

Making redder or whiter

Of Grigio or Noir

The thirst not quenched

Without every pour.

Looking at the Menu

Is the cut lean, I asked. Just enough fat to enrich the flavour and texture said the server.
I looked at the menu again, wanting the meat, pausing in the moment as I considered the healthy choice of fish. Either sensing my inner desire or pushing for the upsell, she said its a speciality of the house and highly reccommended. It didn't help, mine too was a struggle for independence having learned that I was resposnible for my decisions. Could I have it with the Garlic Potatoes and not the Mixed Bitter Greens? No substitutions allowed, she said apologetically. I was eating alone that night and couldnt buy time by asking my dinner partner to order first. Well I'll start with the Mussels and I'll have another love, I mean scotch on the rocks please. Sure sir, take your time, we close in an hour and we have no reservations. Thanks, I said, still unsure.

Baptism

I never knew I wanted to
Before I could speak
Before I knew hearing
There was a pitter patter
Of a thing that was different
To any I'd felt before

Different like that which
Came from my eyes and my pores
And the blood which courses
Thorugh my veins
A liquid, like ink
A marker, a stain

That would be called rain and that pain
And baptism some say
Still memory of all that and not the day
The day I first knew not of its name
Like long before art and before frame
Before different and before same

Not yet knowing what I did hear
Rustling, thunder, rain
Animals running
Sounds on my ear
Feelings then came
Later called fear

Before I could speak I heard sounds
Without knowing their name
Or what they were
Or from where they came
Before I learnt that I care
All even before one year

My self I protected after the pain
And before I could forget
I protected everything
Bound by a skin
Hiding or hidden
So much held within

To feel before knowing what is felt
Like pitter patter or howling wind
Through eyes, ears on skin
That was my baptism.