T&T flag

 

in DEPENDENCE

mutually ah mas

my lips
part to spit out
a poison promised
to me as sustenance

awake! i dare
say you dreamers
on marine square
never was declared independence,
dancing star-filled night
beneath painted
ornate street-lights
were but, one of
many delusions. Antics
of a trained prankster
many centuries reared
on corrugated blood
with powdered face


new era or
error



a fish that don’t swim
●

great divide

remains

like the dug out lands by the private land developers

lethal floods –so blame instead the residents
who dispose of their refuge
without wherewithal

as sins of the past accumulate
remain unchallenged
have we forgotten
the struggles of our predecessors?

why must the ole guard remain ?

as uneasiness an’ fear reigns

demolish… obliterate
class barriers
discrimination

legislate equal opportunity
to fill the

great divide

●

Lunacy

In-stalled
aggressive waves
thumping maracas
las cuevas to matleot
even paria gulf at 25feet. Plus

debris explosion in st james. Innocent’s
blood bathing the land

Criminals playing eternal jouvert
privileged macabre ballet
clad as politriks galore

minus ahead

●

poems selected from "As Long As"

published in commemoration of

Trinidad & Tobago's declared

Independence from Britain

31st August 1962

hurrican katrina

http://roikwapoetry.blogspot.com/2006/08/in-memory-of-victims-of-katrina.html

in memory of victims of katrina

Big Ease Back


big ease back
riding out the storm as
dead multitudes
float idly by

like lice replace
tongues of fish
no more new orleans
louisiana has lost her pearl

bourbon street grime
washed away by rumoured
imploded levees giving way

here glittering madre gras
memories fade
of wining or losses
at la masions de casinos
no more threaten provocateur de las vegas

survival especially
subsidised milk anointed
self heated meals
deny com-forT-V
sad as nineleven

personnel not available/dispatched
to induce violence abroad
as televised democratised
humans may agonise
constitution as daily benediction blood
of innocents make safe
wretched poverty

flying bombers dare
dare you there
dear you
as daring weathered mercenaries
with flying metallic crafts
convey whatever else
with determined intent to
injure eye of deity
hurrican
many times christened
now immortalised as katrina

nature has become
a stranger demanding
due respect with honour

live with her
not against her
conflict begets not harmony

nature's divine science

indigenous nations know
when she comes
hence, seasonal migrations
as buffalo once roamed

magical voice of
now ancestor jazzy mae
framed by piano, trombone,
trumpet an' base trembling
drumset at rear

hot frenzied dancing
cannot fill stupidless-lee
smokey sleasey bars
now submerged
by torrents liberated

did they call my name?
did they find my sister?
who will take care of us now?
i lost everything
they dont care about us...

how to love me/between the news
ole man river
spawns tad-poles
reported as finding
food an' water
an’ looting food in the
deluge
same place.
Same Time

catfish , squid, crabs or lobsters, snapper
oyster de extraordinaire
drowned slave bones
ritual assembly
river boat missionaries entertained
canoes of antiquity silt wrecked
primordial instincts
of fellow beings. Entangled

seaweed to mangrove
shark bait caught
cayman skin wrapped tight plaid cloth linen

Levilee jeans, dvd player
kitchen-master
20'' plasma tv, hair dryer
Toaster, nylon negligee...
20''freezer,
we need insulin
smellin' salts, drinking water

acess over this fly-over

f.e.m.a.

Fuming/Engulfed/Mainland / amerikkka

a coasting slick of black gold
mississippi day-mare
though devoted
black elected mayor
lamented disgrace…..commanding
sitting arses to
ass-ist. Roamin' knuckle-

heads' marooned seeked
ease in hospitals, bars, churches,
convenience stores, pharmacies an' laundries

any port to
contain/onload urges
bush cant fix chronic addiction
nothing could. Weapons
ruled by strong flaming discontent raging over
five days of mayhem

five suns to experience
t'is impromptu baccanal /carnivoire
macrbre dance without mask
jazzed up ridicule of
dispossessed. Innocent

tears shall confound
vile blatant attempts
to erase these folk

infirm and elderly victims
idly float by
as we ride out this storm

washpan, fish-lines
make-up kit, stove
an' vacum on
mud soaked mattress
fried chicken,
floating pizzas harvested
cotton, tractor, moped, van, car
an' dump truck
piled high as traditional
black-eye peas and rice

oui
flaming factories where
purid brews
of chemicals cook
screaming anguish

feudal gifts of
un trauma de grande
offshore rigs awol
spilled gallions of southern comfort .Trolleys
of recycled booty ferry
shoot to kill polite

on site orders/
inept response
as human culling
pursued under
pretex of duress
incompetence
riding out in storm

conspiracy ?
genocide?
thousands remain unaccounted

leave the politics for later
rescue crafts under fire
we want to save you
roaming marauding desperate survivors
armed to the teeth


remand prisoners wallow in cages
overcome with faecaliën broth
refugees in their own land: cited psyche
ferociously assaulted
majority afrikan- amerikan
poor for here comes iron fist
sound bites
photographic opportunities
shaking sweaty hypocritical palms of who
did not evactuate
failed to prepare
thus prepared to fail
multitudes
riding out the first storm
of the season

some say a catastrophe waiting to happen

again
●

poem

published in the collection:

AS LONG AS

Caribbean Poet's celebrates

Selected commissioned poems from Birmingham's Poet Laureate (2001-2002), celebrating the diversity and culture of England's second city. Includes an appreciation of the epic poem-"location:RE".

These works have received international acclaim establishing Trinidadian born Roi Kwabena as a new vibrant voice of Post-Colonial Literature in Britain.

departures

departures


no sadness along pathways
upon which we are destined
only opportunities for growth
an’ experience

opening our hearts
to change
we reveal our strengths
trusting in universal laws
supporting us as always
from the womb

the secret
is acceptance of fragility
alike the creatures be assured
of the precious moment
a gift known as the present
celebrate therefore your life
hopes and dreams
understanding
that all that
you seek will surely find you
▲

Copyright © roi kwabena

an excerpt from "in the moment"