American
Num3rolo8y
Po3ms
Michael A. D. Edwards
author of Turbo Donkeycart and Garv3y’s
Ghost
DEDICATION
To Therese, Aaron, Israel, Gabby and Zach – with my undying love
And to Leonard Howell – someday I’ll find your poem
OVUM
For the first was
Put in last
So that the
beauty in
Deprivation could
- like Elijah's cloud -
Overshadow the rot
of complacency
THROUGH THE FENCE
Through the
fence
Bunny & Pinkie
Met each day
Each with
So much to say
For BunnyBunny & Pinkie
Met each day
Each with
So much to say
The fence
Was a time warp
Behind it
Stood the past
A 6x9 hell
Otherwise called
A cell
Laden with the memories
Of being
In the wrong place
At the wrong time
seems like they found
him guilty
But they never found
the crime
Beyond the fence
The future
dangling tantalizingly
like one of them
luscious Bombay mango
hanging from the tree
just outside
his reach
Through the fence
One night
Bunny slipped
Squeezing through the hole
he'd diligently
Clipped
And just when
He'd tasted
Freedom at last
From the tower
Came three shotgun blasts
Pinkie
Starting to scream
this couldn't happen so
It must be a dream
While she ballin'
Bunny dead
Even as he fallin'
To the cold concrete
Lots of runnin and
Shoutin'
A familiar voice sayin'
"A did tell you
Him was goin' do it!"
Spotlight
Turning midnight
To daylight
Adding to the mayhem
People crowding around
To view
The system's
Latest
Victim
Starting to scream
this couldn't happen so
It must be a dream
While she ballin'
Bunny dead
Even as he fallin'
To the cold concrete
Lots of runnin and
Shoutin'
A familiar voice sayin'
"A did tell you
Him was goin' do it!"
Spotlight
Turning midnight
To daylight
Adding to the mayhem
People crowding around
To view
The system's
Latest
Victim
THE BAT LATITUDES
Welcoming
the night
they see by
Sound
By day they
Avoid
confrontation with
The Chopper
What part
have they with
Foreign-minted
Billionaires?
they are
mindless of the persistent
epithets
“Blind as a
….”
“Oh you
dunce-….”
From their
vantage
point up 10 storeys
or more the
hazy
exhaust-choked
neglected
remorseless
City is
An elegant sonic
Patchwork
A symphony
Of
transliterated pings
They care
Not
Whether
they are thwarting
Justice
In the
grand
Bio-philosophical
scheme
they
are merely
asserting
their
preternatural
Rights
STANDOFF
When
dissent from
within
grew louder than acclaim
without
When even the clotheslines
betrayed party loyalty
When the crisis of
identity
long simmering hit
critical mass
a nation in need
of a
pause
was instead
left
in suspense
Ink-dipped fingers
announcing hope and defiance in
equal measure
Perhaps just
long enough for the
revelation of the real
Power
within
grew louder than acclaim
without
When even the clotheslines
betrayed party loyalty
When the crisis of
identity
long simmering hit
critical mass
a nation in need
of a
pause
was instead
left
in suspense
Ink-dipped fingers
announcing hope and defiance in
equal measure
Perhaps just
long enough for the
revelation of the real
Power
WHILE THE RICE COOLS[For
Edi Fitzroy, RIP]
"People like us, we don't eat our rice
hot"
God has
a claim on
vengeance
But knowing that does not put a
Cap on
The pain
The sorrow
The rage seeking
A safe place
To paint and write its manifold
Litanies
So we rub in
the balm of dreams aspirations and
selected memories
to remove the blade
from the whetstone
While the rice cools
and the
Scales
are rebalanced
a claim on
vengeance
But knowing that does not put a
Cap on
The pain
The sorrow
The rage seeking
A safe place
To paint and write its manifold
Litanies
So we rub in
the balm of dreams aspirations and
selected memories
to remove the blade
from the whetstone
While the rice cools
and the
Scales
are rebalanced
ONCE
WAS A MATADOR
A makeshift stool
his throne
His domain a
Blighted corner of
otherwise respectable
Suburbia
Faded red shirt
open to the khaki-clad
Waist
Flapping like a flag on a
forgotten outpost
He sits
staring intently at
his dick
Upon which
a sterling reputation
had been built
La espada de la noche
Responsible for many
Kills
Now there's no adulation
No roses thrown
A loosely buckled belt and
the collected sweat of
Smeared palms
are the only rings
He knows
He's won a few
Battles over time
But
The war's long been
decided
his throne
His domain a
Blighted corner of
otherwise respectable
Suburbia
Faded red shirt
open to the khaki-clad
Waist
Flapping like a flag on a
forgotten outpost
He sits
staring intently at
his dick
Upon which
a sterling reputation
had been built
La espada de la noche
Responsible for many
Kills
Now there's no adulation
No roses thrown
A loosely buckled belt and
the collected sweat of
Smeared palms
are the only rings
He knows
He's won a few
Battles over time
But
The war's long been
decided
GUTTED
BY A SHEET
It had been
Beautiful once
No doubt adorning a well-made
bed in some well-ordered
Home
Now
Its gossamer sheen has succumbed
to the rampant stains of misfortune and
Neglect
And still it has spoken some ugly
Truths
About us
And the film of
Indifference now spread
like a Dome
over a sunny ghetto
Morning
With one side clutched
Desperately lest it fall away and
Reveal the nakedness
Of the stumbling befuddled
Woman
wearing it
Beautiful once
No doubt adorning a well-made
bed in some well-ordered
Home
Now
Its gossamer sheen has succumbed
to the rampant stains of misfortune and
Neglect
And still it has spoken some ugly
Truths
About us
And the film of
Indifference now spread
like a Dome
over a sunny ghetto
Morning
With one side clutched
Desperately lest it fall away and
Reveal the nakedness
Of the stumbling befuddled
Woman
wearing it
BLACK AND BLUE(Misery’s Gallery)
A johncrow
sweeps
across a cloudless
sky
An Impressionist
swirl
Against a seemingly austere
Landscape
But far below
the crow's eye
sits an unmoving palette
Drums
Tyres
Myriad plastics
Labels
A near blinding panoply
Set off by the sickly green river
of sewage
Smearing homes streets
And sidewalks
Not too far from our
feet
Semi-industrial sludge
aroused by a stone
Splashes and drips
with Pollockian fervour
against a crusty sun-baked
canvas
A gallery of
Miseries
To which a multi-hued group
Are but temporary
Witnesses
Some near retching
others silent as the
gully shrubs
Mans inhumanity
And disconnection
painfully
On show
across a cloudless
sky
An Impressionist
swirl
Against a seemingly austere
Landscape
But far below
the crow's eye
sits an unmoving palette
Drums
Tyres
Myriad plastics
Labels
A near blinding panoply
Set off by the sickly green river
of sewage
Smearing homes streets
And sidewalks
Not too far from our
feet
Semi-industrial sludge
aroused by a stone
Splashes and drips
with Pollockian fervour
against a crusty sun-baked
canvas
A gallery of
Miseries
To which a multi-hued group
Are but temporary
Witnesses
Some near retching
others silent as the
gully shrubs
Mans inhumanity
And disconnection
painfully
On show
19 BERRIES
19
Whose juice
The world will never
Taste
19 reducedby official faux pas
To phytoplasmic
Paste
19 mysteries
They will never
Be named
19
Whose parents must still
Cope with the
Shame even more than
Grief
For these lives were not even
Brief
Between this world and
the Cosmos
Suspended
19 little lumps
of phlegm
What place of rest
For them
Now disposed of like old
Syringes
While hacks and
Enjoy the usual binges
Flying there and
Here to make speeches and
Present papers
While some of us still
Choking
On the vapors
The essences of
These 19
Robbed of their
Immunity and stripped
of their
Humanity
And I'm not sure what's
The greater insanity:
That it happened or that
So many are wont
To let it slide
Right off the media
Front lines
"Get over it! This happens
all the time!"
The comfortable talk of
The jaded and truly
Confused of excuses and causes and numbers and policies there are many but tell truth how would you feel if you ever lost
Any
Of your berries?
Whose juice
The world will never
Taste
19 reducedby official faux pas
To phytoplasmic
Paste
19 mysteries
They will never
Be named
19
Whose parents must still
Cope with the
Shame even more than
Grief
For these lives were not even
Brief
Between this world and
the Cosmos
Suspended
19 little lumps
of phlegm
What place of rest
For them
Now disposed of like old
Syringes
While hacks and
Enjoy the usual binges
Flying there and
Here to make speeches and
Present papers
While some of us still
Choking
On the vapors
The essences of
These 19
Robbed of their
Immunity and stripped
of their
Humanity
And I'm not sure what's
The greater insanity:
That it happened or that
So many are wont
To let it slide
Right off the media
Front lines
"Get over it! This happens
all the time!"
The comfortable talk of
The jaded and truly
Confused of excuses and causes and numbers and policies there are many but tell truth how would you feel if you ever lost
Any
Of your berries?
The blacker the berry,
the sooner. It's crushed
GANGSTA
BEG
He knew
The words to
Kartel songs that even
The World Boss –
ruling behind bars -
had doubtless forgotten
His hoodie spoke
The Classic urban
myth
of the angry young man ready
to ruthlessly lash out
at all
who dared
oppose him
In the domain
Of camaraderie
He was
Invincible but
The hour of reckoning
Arrived sooner
Than expected
And the plaintive yet
Fruitless
Begging
Resolutely rebuffed
Was in itself
A verdict unassailable
In the world of this teen
Gangsta
Mom is still
Boss
BALLAD
OF THE BEHEADED BOTTLE
Shiny
pliant
Plastic meets unforgiving
hard-driven
Rubber
On a
decadent
Downtown carriageway
With expectable
Disaster
Devastation
Decapitation
Ruthlessly ending
Despair
Disillusionment and
Doubting
Leaving only a useless
Drifter
Desolate
Desperately
awaiting
Salvage
pliant
Plastic meets unforgiving
hard-driven
Rubber
On a
decadent
Downtown carriageway
With expectable
Disaster
Devastation
Decapitation
Ruthlessly ending
Despair
Disillusionment and
Doubting
Leaving only a useless
Drifter
Desolate
Desperately
awaiting
Salvage
THE
SHADOW
The shadow between
2 lights
hosting secret
Lovers
Making
Art of
conjoined hearts and
Lips
Their Arms a
Globe delineated
A world of stolen
Pleasures and hidden
Truths
Just 2 wayward
wayfarers allied
With the night
Exploiting the
shadow
Between the
lights
2 lights
hosting secret
Lovers
Making
Art of
conjoined hearts and
Lips
Their Arms a
Globe delineated
A world of stolen
Pleasures and hidden
Truths
Just 2 wayward
wayfarers allied
With the night
Exploiting the
shadow
Between the
lights
EYES FEAST
How does a
young man
Even one
still young in his own
Mind
Keep his way
pure?
When even the advancing
Years
have not slowed the relentless
"Him-pulse"
When the languid
Undulations of tropical
hips
is met
With stirrings in the
Loins no less intense
at 50
than they were
at 20
And the mind feeds on
The eyes' dishes
Its energies diverted to
Suppressing
forbidden wishes
Even one
still young in his own
Mind
Keep his way
pure?
When even the advancing
Years
have not slowed the relentless
"Him-pulse"
When the languid
Undulations of tropical
hips
is met
With stirrings in the
Loins no less intense
at 50
than they were
at 20
And the mind feeds on
The eyes' dishes
Its energies diverted to
Suppressing
forbidden wishes
WOMAN
TONGUE
Who or
what
has got
Woman tongue
Is the grip of fear now so
great
That she could choose -
Head held straight
but the eyes
Compelled to deviate -
Not
to reciprocate
the basic courtesy
of a pleasant
Good Morning?
what
has got
Woman tongue
Is the grip of fear now so
great
That she could choose -
Head held straight
but the eyes
Compelled to deviate -
Not
to reciprocate
the basic courtesy
of a pleasant
Good Morning?
FUGITIVE
She announced herself as
A Witness
A claim
she sought earnestly to
bolster with booklets
and tracts
But she was
Nothing more than a
Fugitive
In a Witness program seeking
Protection from rebel
Desires she had hardly begun
To comprehend let alone
Master
Convicted
On the evidence of an
Outfit
Through which her nubile
form made some strong
Suggestions
To which even this
Seasoned juror
Was far from
Immune
A Witness
A claim
she sought earnestly to
bolster with booklets
and tracts
But she was
Nothing more than a
Fugitive
In a Witness program seeking
Protection from rebel
Desires she had hardly begun
To comprehend let alone
Master
Convicted
On the evidence of an
Outfit
Through which her nubile
form made some strong
Suggestions
To which even this
Seasoned juror
Was far from
Immune
MAN OF A KIND
Towering
figure
He lit
Solitary
woodland
Shrouded
In darkness
and
pummeled by
Water and
Rock
of Ages
Whom he did
proclaim
to simple
folk
in song and
Speech
Who soothes
his own
Breast
With
halting golden tones of
saxophone
as
Women
Some
harbouring long-held illicit
Desires
Celebrate
him and
Young men
narrate his
Legend
With
Reverence
GOD TREE
Through the hill-fringed city
The people carry
umbrellas like
Dandelions on metallic poles - twisting and contorting skittishly in the
Wind - to
Beat
The heat of the day
The people carry
umbrellas like
Dandelions on metallic poles - twisting and contorting skittishly in the
Wind - to
Beat
The heat of the day
Commercial Barons and other
Nobles cavort in the
Shade 'cept
For Carnival Day
When inhibitions are laid
bare as the St Andrew hills
in May
Only the peasants
feel the heat daring
On occasion
to steal cover and more so
fruit
From trees taken captive by
Developers and the not-so-captive
Middle class
Anxious to guard their sylvan
bounty
despite the protestations
That what they hold to so
Earnestly
Is in truth
"God tree"
Nobles cavort in the
Shade 'cept
For Carnival Day
When inhibitions are laid
bare as the St Andrew hills
in May
Only the peasants
feel the heat daring
On occasion
to steal cover and more so
fruit
From trees taken captive by
Developers and the not-so-captive
Middle class
Anxious to guard their sylvan
bounty
despite the protestations
That what they hold to so
Earnestly
Is in truth
"God tree"
ZERO
Confused
Augustus and
Nero
They didn't know
The Way only
Galileo knew to
Look to
The East
For the
Nothing that is all
And had long been
The African's
domain
From Zimbabwe up
to the Nile Delta
In Europe
Cave-dwellers heltah-skeltah
Their minds can't grasp
Infinity
The roundness of
Divinity
The number of
Kings
The prime factor
Generator
of all
things
Idolized
Yet needing no
Worship
Seeking
no approval
An inner energy
Brought to the fore
But who can truly
Fathom the ancient
Lore
The knowledge of
the integral number
Lifted
From a long and
Little disturbed
Slumber
Nero
They didn't know
The Way only
Galileo knew to
Look to
The East
For the
Nothing that is all
And had long been
The African's
domain
From Zimbabwe up
to the Nile Delta
In Europe
Cave-dwellers heltah-skeltah
Their minds can't grasp
Infinity
The roundness of
Divinity
The number of
Kings
The prime factor
Generator
of all
things
Idolized
Yet needing no
Worship
Seeking
no approval
An inner energy
Brought to the fore
But who can truly
Fathom the ancient
Lore
The knowledge of
the integral number
Lifted
From a long and
Little disturbed
Slumber
A GRID ON THE RIVER
Lord
Founder and Sole Owner
So
Founder and Sole Owner
So
serpentine
Leopold
styled himself
laying claim to
an ancient heritage never laid up for him and his ilk
Heart of stone made
glad by the abundance of rubber sap
tongue sharper than ivory tusk
rammed by Force Publique
through innumerable guts
Man woman child
none spared in his quest to put fence
in the jungle and grid
on the river
Thinking he could stay the flow
of mighty Congo
the blood of 10 million
courses through
and will not wash out
blotting oceans
and staining northern shores
where evil
spineless men
heard of the distant horrors
and played deafdumbblind
and yet
they called us
Monkeys
Dunces
spineless men
styled himself
laying claim to
an ancient heritage never laid up for him and his ilk
Heart of stone made
glad by the abundance of rubber sap
tongue sharper than ivory tusk
rammed by Force Publique
through innumerable guts
Man woman child
none spared in his quest to put fence
in the jungle and grid
on the river
Thinking he could stay the flow
of mighty Congo
the blood of 10 million
courses through
and will not wash out
blotting oceans
and staining northern shores
where evil
spineless men
heard of the distant horrors
and played deafdumbblind
and yet
they called us
Monkeys
Dunces
spineless men
HATESEEKER
You stepped
Into my sanctuary
With your
Puny bullets
now My body
has become a
Velvet-lined
Steel-coated
Missile
aimed right at
Your Statehouse
You pierced hearts
And spleens
I explode your lies
Smash to smithereens your myths
Of valiant warriors trapped
on the wrong side of
History
Did you not
wonder
Why we welcomed you in?
Did you not think we could
Feel
your cowardly hate?
A date with
destiny
is what you believed
You were on
But it is you
and your hooded
patrons
That were duped
Enjoy the spotlight
while you can
The glare
Of the crossed stars
In your
Flag
For soon enough
It wiil sear your
Eyes
And while I return
Whole
To the welcoming
Earth
You and your
Flag
will be vagabond
ashes
Into my sanctuary
With your
Puny bullets
now My body
has become a
Velvet-lined
Steel-coated
Missile
aimed right at
Your Statehouse
You pierced hearts
And spleens
I explode your lies
Smash to smithereens your myths
Of valiant warriors trapped
on the wrong side of
History
Did you not
wonder
Why we welcomed you in?
Did you not think we could
Feel
your cowardly hate?
A date with
destiny
is what you believed
You were on
But it is you
and your hooded
patrons
That were duped
Enjoy the spotlight
while you can
The glare
Of the crossed stars
In your
Flag
For soon enough
It wiil sear your
Eyes
And while I return
Whole
To the welcoming
Earth
You and your
Flag
will be vagabond
ashes
BIER
FOR OUZO
When bier is poured
down the throats of unwilling Greeks
Then trail blazers become
Live-ins;
Wives become whores
Money is everything yet
meaningless
How can a trillion Euro be
anything but a mist to
The Everyman of
Athens
An abstract, like
democracy
around which to build
modern epics
down the throats of unwilling Greeks
Then trail blazers become
Live-ins;
Wives become whores
Money is everything yet
meaningless
How can a trillion Euro be
anything but a mist to
The Everyman of
Athens
An abstract, like
democracy
around which to build
modern epics
SPIRIT
OF JAMAICA (for Drummond)
Don who?
Forty years a
Daughter of the soil
And yet she had
No clue
So what
Of Alphanso
Tommy
Brevett and
Sterling the last man
Standing
From the era when bands
ruled the musical roost
When spots like
Glass Bucket
Silver Slipper
And La Parisienne
pulsated
To the stratosphere
with that unique
Sound
Through a long-belled
Horn
The reluctant star
Wailed
The sigh of Trade Winds
melded with lapping
Waves
set to the beat of Resistance
A mystery to the
Insulated
Such as she
Now the beat's
Reverberated throughout the world
Reaching a new generation
Such as the one
she lays to sleep each night
with foreign lullabies
They're already inured to
canned food of
Overproduced sounds and
empty celebrities
For the parents
unpredictable Don
And his wanton eccentricities
Are a horror show
Worse than
The nightly news
The hidden majesty of
Drummond's blues
Is lost on them
But the little girl
inside the big exec
Knows better
She'd joyously move to
The ska
If only we'd
Let her
Forty years a
Daughter of the soil
And yet she had
No clue
So what
Of Alphanso
Tommy
Brevett and
Sterling the last man
Standing
From the era when bands
ruled the musical roost
When spots like
Glass Bucket
Silver Slipper
And La Parisienne
pulsated
To the stratosphere
with that unique
Sound
Through a long-belled
Horn
The reluctant star
Wailed
The sigh of Trade Winds
melded with lapping
Waves
set to the beat of Resistance
A mystery to the
Insulated
Such as she
Now the beat's
Reverberated throughout the world
Reaching a new generation
Such as the one
she lays to sleep each night
with foreign lullabies
They're already inured to
canned food of
Overproduced sounds and
empty celebrities
For the parents
unpredictable Don
And his wanton eccentricities
Are a horror show
Worse than
The nightly news
The hidden majesty of
Drummond's blues
Is lost on them
But the little girl
inside the big exec
Knows better
She'd joyously move to
The ska
If only we'd
Let her
FEATHERWEIGHT
A bird alights
on freshly mowed
grass
A
lone
feather takes flight
Coasting upwards
on summery
gusts
Taking with it
Secrets
and
dreams near
dying
Leaving only
the leaden residue
of dread
frustration
on freshly mowed
grass
A
lone
feather takes flight
Coasting upwards
on summery
gusts
Taking with it
Secrets
and
dreams near
dying
Leaving only
the leaden residue
of dread
frustration
BIRDMAN
OF BUILDERS[ for
Calatrava]
metal Giants
Frozen in
Their mythical flights
Answering a
Call
To alight on
Rivers
Parks
And Metros
Metallic wings
Gleaming
Like our greatest
Dreams
Snatched
refashioned
And cast before our
Astounded eyes
Frozen in
Their mythical flights
Answering a
Call
To alight on
Rivers
Parks
And Metros
Metallic wings
Gleaming
Like our greatest
Dreams
Snatched
refashioned
And cast before our
Astounded eyes
STRAY
A mongrel
of no kennel
no collar
A common stray unleashed
by a greater
Hand
To stay
the hands of a bloodthirsty
Quartet
Seeking to test
their blades and
line their filthy
Pockets
With the hard-earned cash
Of a nearly unsuspecting
Writer
with a family
As yet
Unaware
Of the near disastrous encounter and
Ignorant
Of just how much
they owe
to the boisterous
Barking
of a common stray
NORDIC CROCS
Ice
slimy mangrove
Instinct honed
Ship riders
Back to
tropic hideaway
The old
home
Made new
slimy mangrove
Instinct honed
Ship riders
Back to
tropic hideaway
The old
home
Made new
COMFORT
IN WONDERING
I often
Wonder if I am
Going
mad
And I
Welcome
the comfort
Such wondering brings
MINEFIELD
CARTWHEELS
Between Sex
Drugs and
gettin' too old
The slander
is dropping by the
planeload
Pockmarking the
Field of mind robbing
This Peace of
mine
But only for a moment
I spin the anger they try to
Foment
into reckless abandon
Unwavering passion
Relentlessly
seeking to fashion a
greater reality
From this fertile
Field of mind
Even if only to
Restrain me
from giving them a
Piece of mine
Drugs and
gettin' too old
The slander
is dropping by the
planeload
Pockmarking the
Field of mind robbing
This Peace of
mine
But only for a moment
I spin the anger they try to
Foment
into reckless abandon
Unwavering passion
Relentlessly
seeking to fashion a
greater reality
From this fertile
Field of mind
Even if only to
Restrain me
from giving them a
Piece of mine
AMERICAN NUMEROLOGY(for JFK)
11 22 333
[63]
Could it be the serial number on a
Magic bullet that sliced through
cool Dallas air fired from a book long dormant and
Yeloowing by a sworn
Red
A steel sunburst exploding through pillow-soft clouds of flesh brains skull
and Blood
Spattering in showers on a
shocked designer Dress that is instantly hung in the
showcase of
History
spun like distressed thread into many Stories
a verbal Hall of Mirrors
Unverifiable
Unforgettable
Real life pages turning like pulp
thriller Manila Hanoi Havana gold
Ruby and cheap lead alleged lone Killer
himself shot dead and later talk of
a Coup even as AF1 flew carrying
LBJ on his Path to Power but
even at 11 miles per hour the notion of
that Topless black beauty can still stop us in our
Tracks after 50+ years as it bears the
Body of the former White House resident
to that other
Arlington
Could it be the serial number on a
Magic bullet that sliced through
cool Dallas air fired from a book long dormant and
Yeloowing by a sworn
Red
A steel sunburst exploding through pillow-soft clouds of flesh brains skull
and Blood
Spattering in showers on a
shocked designer Dress that is instantly hung in the
showcase of
History
spun like distressed thread into many Stories
a verbal Hall of Mirrors
Unverifiable
Unforgettable
Real life pages turning like pulp
thriller Manila Hanoi Havana gold
Ruby and cheap lead alleged lone Killer
himself shot dead and later talk of
a Coup even as AF1 flew carrying
LBJ on his Path to Power but
even at 11 miles per hour the notion of
that Topless black beauty can still stop us in our
Tracks after 50+ years as it bears the
Body of the former White House resident
to that other
Arlington
MAYDAY
The 1st
seems like only
Last night
1st of the 1st
that is
As from a balcony
I watched the city
belch polychrome fire
and guzzle champagne like
Water
That now trickles through
groaning taps
Making a hissing
Mockery
on grass stained
Brown like
old coffee
Few might have thought
the hangover
Would have lasted
So long
And hope
Like fallen
poui flowers
blankets the hardened
Earth awaiting the next
spark
seems like only
Last night
1st of the 1st
that is
As from a balcony
I watched the city
belch polychrome fire
and guzzle champagne like
Water
That now trickles through
groaning taps
Making a hissing
Mockery
on grass stained
Brown like
old coffee
Few might have thought
the hangover
Would have lasted
So long
And hope
Like fallen
poui flowers
blankets the hardened
Earth awaiting the next
spark
LIFE TO ORDER
You don't have it
At least you don't look
like u have it
And for many of them
That's enough to
keep you out their
Concentric
Circles
Credit
Opportunity
Favour
Access denied
while you try to find
Like some present-day
Lawnmower Man
released from King's story
Your own way
In
Pushing all kinds of
buttons
Flitting from point to point
Meeting
greeting
Absorbing
At least you don't look
like u have it
And for many of them
That's enough to
keep you out their
Concentric
Circles
Credit
Opportunity
Favour
Access denied
while you try to find
Like some present-day
Lawnmower Man
released from King's story
Your own way
In
Pushing all kinds of
buttons
Flitting from point to point
Meeting
greeting
Absorbing
Wishing
That you could have
A life
to order
A life
to order
BEING IN UNCERTAINTIES
Neither meteorologist nor
Seer
Claimed he for himself and yet
How expertly
this short-lived
Romantic
captured the maelstrom of
the modern writing life
An age where mere
Reason and pragmatism
are seen as the soundest of
Virtues
And beauty
Mystery
and curiosity
the basest of
Vices
Seer
Claimed he for himself and yet
How expertly
this short-lived
Romantic
captured the maelstrom of
the modern writing life
An age where mere
Reason and pragmatism
are seen as the soundest of
Virtues
And beauty
Mystery
and curiosity
the basest of
Vices
RING GAMES
Summer
With its free rein
open spaces and
romps
Has been pressed into memory.
September
and its sundry
regiments close their grip
on life
Traffic
Booklists incomplete
Uniforms
And the summoning
bells
But even so
There is still room
for the reassuring trill
And twitter
of little voices
Caught up in the ageless songs
as each one hops
Along
With its free rein
open spaces and
romps
Has been pressed into memory.
September
and its sundry
regiments close their grip
on life
Traffic
Booklists incomplete
Uniforms
And the summoning
bells
But even so
There is still room
for the reassuring trill
And twitter
of little voices
Caught up in the ageless songs
as each one hops
Along
ORGANIC
ROCKETS
The observed is
The intangible
That which we have
come to accept is deserving of
greater scrutiny
and best able to
sustain it
Just as a tiny seed can
in time unfurl
A thousand trees
And a thousand people
Can morph
into an oak of
Protest
Trunk and branches
scarred by neglect
Rejection
Disdain
Yet defiant
Forcing the architects of
Convention
to either build
around it or
Hack it down
The inner cosmos
spans light years
That can only be bridged by
Organic Rockets
The intangible
That which we have
come to accept is deserving of
greater scrutiny
and best able to
sustain it
Just as a tiny seed can
in time unfurl
A thousand trees
And a thousand people
Can morph
into an oak of
Protest
Trunk and branches
scarred by neglect
Rejection
Disdain
Yet defiant
Forcing the architects of
Convention
to either build
around it or
Hack it down
The inner cosmos
spans light years
That can only be bridged by
Organic Rockets
OUR QUEST
Not
The checkerboard
Of
Plans and
Plots
Our walk
is an elliptical
Orbit
The checkerboard
Of
Plans and
Plots
Our walk
is an elliptical
Orbit
Our great challenge is
To master
the intricate internal
Acrobatics
of remembering
without regret
We must know that there is no
Beauty
more enduring than
A rose at its peak
before
Withering
Or
The reticent surrender
of deepest
Night
Before advancing
dawn
Our quest
is the plausible
Impossible
Is to venture
Outward
Conquering
Fear
until those that seem so
Distant
Are firmly
In our heart's grasp
Our
Quest
Is
The stars
To master
the intricate internal
Acrobatics
of remembering
without regret
We must know that there is no
Beauty
more enduring than
A rose at its peak
before
Withering
Or
The reticent surrender
of deepest
Night
Before advancing
dawn
Our quest
is the plausible
Impossible
Is to venture
Outward
Conquering
Fear
until those that seem so
Distant
Are firmly
In our heart's grasp
Our
Quest
Is
The stars
THE HEART SPEAKS TRUTH
The heart
Speaks truth contrary
to the common
interpretation
of the Word
Its the brain
that so often
Deceives
Leading one to
believe
That all
that is seen
Is all
there is
Speaks truth contrary
to the common
interpretation
of the Word
Its the brain
that so often
Deceives
Leading one to
believe
That all
that is seen
Is all
there is
SHE
WAS…
Unbleached
Unbraided
Unbranded
Her hair a woolly
Crown in defiance
of trends and
Types
She was
Unrepentantly
yet unselfconsciously
Black
And the
big shocker
Was
That I was
Even shocked
In the first place
Unbraided
Unbranded
Her hair a woolly
Crown in defiance
of trends and
Types
She was
Unrepentantly
yet unselfconsciously
Black
And the
big shocker
Was
That I was
Even shocked
In the first place
RAINY SEASON
At nights,
When the marshalling
Clouds
have
scattered or
spent themselves
The sky
throws up an embarrassment
of riches
Myriad stars performing
Over a ghetto
Almost unworthy in
It's indifference
Uncared drains
Uncaringly spew
Manifold
refuse
Like a burden suddenly
Cast off
And whole
regiments of mosquitoes
prepare for their own
version of D-Day
Shifting from amphibious
Suspense to airborne
assault
Delivering a payload of
Alphabetical bombs
When the marshalling
Clouds
have
scattered or
spent themselves
The sky
throws up an embarrassment
of riches
Myriad stars performing
Over a ghetto
Almost unworthy in
It's indifference
Uncared drains
Uncaringly spew
Manifold
refuse
Like a burden suddenly
Cast off
And whole
regiments of mosquitoes
prepare for their own
version of D-Day
Shifting from amphibious
Suspense to airborne
assault
Delivering a payload of
Alphabetical bombs
THE LAST OF THE LIGHT
Everywhere
there are
flickers
From the rants
of a bus shelter
Madman
to the heart-stopping
Beauty
of a new artist's
Oeuvre
amidst an arrogantly mundane
Curio bazaar
Random acts of
kindness
And songs
long thought forgotten
bursting from the
Lips of eye-pierced
Youth
there are
flickers
From the rants
of a bus shelter
Madman
to the heart-stopping
Beauty
of a new artist's
Oeuvre
amidst an arrogantly mundane
Curio bazaar
Random acts of
kindness
And songs
long thought forgotten
bursting from the
Lips of eye-pierced
Youth
We're still
raging Tennyson!
And though each flicker seems
the last
It merely paints a stroke leaving
Space
for the next
And though each flicker seems
the last
It merely paints a stroke leaving
Space
for the next
WHAT'S LEFT?
After
the Bloodletting
After the Rivers
Criss-crossing the Land
Like veins
Have tired of carrying noxious death
Into the
Sea
After the scarred sky
Has ceased
Sobbing
Bitter tears heavy
With the memory
Of brighter
Days
As the derisive Windthe Bloodletting
After the Rivers
Criss-crossing the Land
Like veins
Have tired of carrying noxious death
Into the
Sea
After the scarred sky
Has ceased
Sobbing
Bitter tears heavy
With the memory
Of brighter
Days
Sweeps up
Unprotected soil
Like a marauder
With an unwitting virgin
Howling
With malicious delight
The last tree
Looks on stolidly
An impotent sentinel
Numbed By the loss
Of so many
Compatriots
Is this
The paradise that was promised
To our children
Their minds
And bodies Already subtly
Altered
By the sinister machinations
Of malignant substances
What's left for them?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michael A.
D. Edwards is a writer, broadcaster and filmmaker with over 25 years’
experience in a variety of media formats.
His
previous collections include Turbo
Donkeycart and Garvey’s Ghost
He has also
written and co-produced documentary features and was a writer on the inaugural
season of “The Deiwght Peters Show, a popular talk/variety series on Jamaican
television.
He is
currently working on his first novel, and preparing to direct his first feature
film
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