"To the rescue, to the rescue,
To the rescue, out out out Out…"
– Bob Marley, "Sun Is Shining"
For paper feeding eyes things shell break fast;
the child today his birthday in grandfather's arms
might squirm . want his tattoos.
Our islands let age docking hours pass
port cushions back . in and out of morning breath
and what to do? with all those books . knees done
red hill bending.
Irregularity of late able. A woman passing. Yard
man, slower on errand runs, assumes one day his
card will come . your list 'n' smile the give away :
song chest sunk, breath savings.
No matter : the halt,
if stone or beak blood staining, props as up sponge
news; and editors of broke lock file make sure
a link resets brief candle outings.
Just an inch, mind you, aisle anodyne : how watch
rooms block flame pinching, what rain waits near . step
help thread so bare your estate might prefer from now
all loyalties wait at the gate.
As duppies say : rage rage against! land fills mind
folds night weed : term of will not known until . winds
release . traces feast . all across the world high
up your east.
– W.W.
[In mem. Peter Abrahams ~ Kingston, Jamaica ~ January 2017]
DESPITE
Those afraid of dying to light claim you
are as old only as you believe,
as though youth were eternal entrée
and age and death uncalled-for desserts.
But ask the ancient throat of the calf
if its years or sheer impulse to breathe can
change its fate of the butcher's blade wiped
bloodless, honed blameless between slashes.
Spirit takes form, and forms are over-
taken and swallowed up by others
of demanding breath that quickly forgets
to nourish the spark that gives it flame.
Still, this voice persisting with its forms
̶ though it can see they will be chewed or
eschewed to dust by old goats and kids
neither fed-up nor starved-to-death enough.
(from "Within The Wind" © by Brian Chan)
FARJOURNEY CARIBBEAN 