Down from his cross his iPhone cradles need
like vice to grip ‘n’ stare at | chains of round
the neck gold nonnegotiable; fewer ankle swollen
complaints.
Work in progress (a) for partner straying chest
knife stabs + street obscenity (b) Bible stories believed
make better bettor blockers.
+
Once the dogs start barking all bets clear – space
agents landing. They’ll notice pavement packed
backs west crab^legging | palms up east facing
like @midlife prayers.
Bearded men, fat fortuning women lifting!
not taking off the Ab^robe so petitioners can file
stuff in | side entry > don’t want have to look^receive.
+
Our island sunsets slip messages @ horizon slits.
Lights on new brand hotels burn fiercer than flambeaux
@greenheart domain.
Soon as haul strings flat line world trawlers
turn elsewhere; seine cache snapped ‘n’ tagged
like lobster, shell plate servers take away.
Hey Leela, save the papaya; click properties.
YUH RAP SO (4.5)
The one person whom he let read his verse was
Freda – because he liked her angry essays
& nurseryrhymeish notsorry pouting
(As she herself labelled her poems) about
Her lifestyle locked to my culture like a ghost /
that can’t fade like a cloud / since it’s of the dust /
that spreads the more wheels / and boots trample it down:
The facility for which she became known
Among her classmates for using fancy words
To impress Teacher Judd at first unnerved Ladd
For its urgent guilelessness matching his own:
So: I would rather have nightmares / than have none /
but prefer daydreaming / to having nightmares /
prefer sleepless nights / to sleepwalking all day
(from “Raponani” by Brian Chan, 2023)
FARJOURNEY CARIBBEAN 