Never died before, no time for Art ‘n’ bachelor
what would it take to lift the eye Approved! from iPhone
camp^post ? thumbs up down mining.
\ There used to be consensus about the rose
garden; how to uninstall his Lordship sprinklers;
shield tulip bulbs from stem^snip take, gang^
nyam vines off ripping.
+
About saving buttons birthday cards her grandchild
says nothing, puzzled; thinks he’s indestructible
like the laser sword warrior in his playbox.
\ Outlines of virtue under watching lids
like on plantation . tail alert for jumper hens twitch;
like the bois^man faith bargain > maid polishing
on trunk call; floor wage for sin.
+
Real holder of estate could be the yard sweep
angling mute @verandah talk | rum glass
need no ice; gap goat won’t stop rest trade again,
router in the bush.
\ Stitch chart^blue sheets could wind
sail over seas home stretching | spark blood
knocks Yuh vessel charge yet? jook till the limbo
give^card expire. Arrgh!
- W.W.
YUH RAP SO (4.6)
So where had that heart been hiding exactly
When he’d first tackled Freda cynically?
As if she were only a placid pony,
Though he could scent she was a wild cyat really,
But one who would embrace him as her ally
Come to liberate her from the enemy
Of her soul’s jaguar paused taut in her tribe’s tree
Whose limbs allowed every opportunity
For the jaguar’s next leap and blocked its freedom
With one whisper – Go only where you come from:
The price of breaking through tribe-ramparts was pain:
But pain was love’s incestuous intimate
- Which brother Judd + sister Freda both sensed
As their intervining of each other’s spines
Of fire, at once innocent + guilty, both
Lifted them up beyond the limits of breath
& flung them out deep into the sharpest night
(from “Raponani” by Brian Chan, 2023)
FARJOURNEY CARIBBEAN 