It had faces baked in macadamia nuts, accents fine
tuned to play pen civilize; stand up drone home run
come rally from the cold, hugging up in short sleeves
hot sun prose.
It had prizes too embarrassing to keep; panel heads
nuancing desire through fern gullies of surge. The old
lion of the sea laid back among his palettes and trophies,
cub text mates like anemones on his reef.
It had genre divas accessorizing, spritzing Noir skin
fragrance on island crime. "What do readers want?
shots fired chopped heads pay back madrassi hoods?
a night watch man skill set from Scotland Yard?"
So much gone wrong, harmonium or steel; blank white
page fenced for fabulous Marley grazing, while in Mas
tents hand maidens kneel setting jaws dressing nation
wounds in water colours; not for dry eye.
It have waist band just wake up from carnival iron.
Those wind tight couplet cheeks! what riddims
rhymes they passing? whose temper swings incense
Ash Wednesday bells?
It have bawling and seeding, scorning and healing;
fame pale facing the beach time sharing; memories
like sugar cake wrap tight for road side tray; dance
hall turn styling hunger bass man thunder.
Not paid to come, topped up to leave, give trombone
regards to Miguel Street, the Israelite Twelve. Sweeter
than ever this year, compère; light house
switch down, catch the wave next year.
– W.W.
DESERT
Something to say, you think? But an urge
of sand at the mercy of the wind
that pelts every attempt at meaning
into storms of vanity and scoops
of the impossible realised.
And few know how to listen; how's that
for bathos? But frustration, failure
and sheer cussedness are your hardest
masochistic addictions and so
here you go again: Beyond the reach
of paper ladders sagging with worms of words
slipping down one another's backs,
and over oases of moonlight
attesting to the somewhere sea as source
of sand and wind, its temple-masks, hang
the ripest stars, unmoved, staring down
at these lovely dumb dunes, these deaf men
stifled by their latest wriggling word.
(from "Scratches On The Air", by Brian Chan)
FARJOURNEY CARIBBEAN 