“The fear of every strange outpost of the mind,
every strange planet within the ambivalent
orbit of self-discovery…”
– Wilson Harris, Heartland (1964)
\ Once those passports leave the clutch
stamps that date all in advise no back doubling;
bone reset . sprint blocks away from wind
brand combustion.
Cities strain swimmers through cold catch holds;
forest arts dark or inkling rarely fade. Clock in
so Indigene ! no time for hammock camp talk,
myth^treated enough.
^
\ Just one vagabond glance
at bouncing tail destables men on stilts; road
performers One Way traits disguise | @stern
short stuffers point ‘n’ flail.
Land mas’ . never meant for skin soft play; nice
place to plume fall free, you think ? join; try
to stay – cassavie plant cut end of days – quiet
about the Minister’s persistence : your keys
meeting tomorrow.
^
\ Mothers to nothing we hug much
like divine child . on speed^paved ways knees
tumble scrape as if skyfallen | about which
who first laughed intervention ? what intervention.
Manage the meteor shower, redress^like for stain
or account hard to remove | wedded parts burn
stages fall away . All Stars Space Station
Jeez ‘n’ Ages ! flying pan update due.
– W.W.
YUH RAP SO (2.8)
The interviewing Emigration-agent
Amanda (C, sharp, was already learning
That in Canada surnames are the last thing
You attach to a person, like a Label)
A Born-again-ish gal from the Bible Belt
(Which at the time C had only read about)
Might have then wondered – Is this guy a Poet
Or something? or just an Asthmatic or what?
Before she got it! : the boy wanted to Get
The Hell Outa Hey! (one of her favourite
Calypsos of a bunch she had collected):
What she had needed to get the Hell out of
Was Alberta’s Slave Lake – which she dearly loved,
Don’t get her wrong, she was planning to retire
Back there, free to choose her own Purgatory
(from “Raponani” by Brian Chan, 2023)
FARJOURNEY CARIBBEAN 