BAHAMIAN RHAPSODY
(in Eihgteen parts)

PART ONE

EARLY MORN

sunlight kisses an early morn
to embark into a chorus of song
drifting clouds unveils the day
as night glow fades into dawn
a single star abandoned by night
disappears into a golden haze
beam shafts break through the Horizon
strips away a cover of night
exposing things hidden
under the morning light

PART TWO


BLACK ROOSTER

black rooster struttin'
pecking at pebbles in the back yard
scratching behind concrete slabs
under fixed pillars of a woodern shed
clinging to a chattle past
morning trumpets like a bugle's horn
chicken scratch beneath the surface
behind a cock's crow
a scarlet ring 'round his kneck
a crown placed regally on his head
bearing the symbol of a goldern crest
against a black and red

PART THREE

DANCING FEATHERS

dancing feathers from palm branches
ripple across the sky
dipping into a palette of clouds
to touch blue skies with milk
pearls hang heavy from husk
draping the nape
only sun escapes through the cracks
for a lone seagull to ride upon its crest

PART FOUR

COCONUTS

coconut palms on sandy soils
fresh nuts polished slick from coconut oil
cracked opened smashing to ground
jelly gellin' on a coconut mound
water mixing with ocean salt
baking hot on steaming asphalt
spitting upward into a slope
stretching long from a coconut pulp
laid white like beads onto leafy arms
on sandy shores from coconut palms

PART FIVE

BLACK PEARL

snatched up from an ocean floor
leaving behind grains of milky sand
out of her garden
of sea fans and coral reefs
manta rays and rainbow fish
a stone set in a bed of silk
placed on a pillow of florescent stars
and crescent moons
deep within an oyster's shell
a pearl lays buried
removed then polished
shimmering black in the sun



PART SIX

HARBOURSIDE

""ferry to paradise""
"water for sale"
clipity clop, clip clop
sandals slapping on the side walk
busy sales swirl to a symphonic sound
white skin mingling with black hands
"get your hair braided"on the way to Paradise
straw market plats knot the air
weaving life together
on the harbourside

PART SEVEN

PULLIN' UP ANCHOR
ferry boat rockin' to and fro
with man straddlin'
from side to side
at the head of the bow
he pullin' up anchor
hands thrusting arms hard
into motion
body pulsin' rhythm into the deep
of the harbourside
rope 'round leg
wrapped up like a coiled snake
loosely falling into lazy loops
around his feet
cutting fast along the edge
while he yanks
with a final pull

PART EIGHT

OLD BAPTIST HYMN
"so there old Sweet boy stood
lookin' big and bold and strong
hands swingin' back and forth
dancin' with acordion
voice shrillin' high and low
swayin' to his happy song
and he'd break to look around
then he'd hold the next note long
and the congregation standin'
gladly rushed to cut right in
for the layin' down of hands
from the sermon of his hymn
now we know old Sweet boy clearly
by the mightiest of sword
his gentle Baptist hymn
as a servant of the Lord
"
PART NINE

Straw Lady


Straw lady mingling
with the crowd
platting rope
selling bags
straw stretched long
from one to the other
eyes turned down
in quiet chatter
pieces of raffia
neatly sown
strands of thread
inter weave strips
scissors clip away the fray
calypso breezes
blow over bags
placed loosely on
straw stand...


PART TEN

HEAT

sweat forms on brow
from sweltering heat
black skin baked darker by the sun
stop a little under a cool shade of tree
black molasses from dark rum
trickles down the throat
burning a hole into the soul
tempers flare hot
bursting fire onto the landscape ...

PART ELEVEN

STREET FIGHT

slam bam ...brigga doom bram!
big fight break out in the street
people rolling all over the road
man throw rice in the policeman's face
policeman throw him down.
and all the tourist watchin'
to see the two a dem fight
"Black on Black crime!" someone call out
"Police brutality" another say
"what happenin' here?" while she gawk
stories rolling and flowin' with the punches
man teet buck up into the car
head pressed hard to the ground
wid all these people gatherin' round
he hand cuff up to the van
to carry him off to Central station

PART TWELVE

DESERTED STREETS.
.
darkness silently creeps in
phantoms fill an empty street
murmurings of a nineteenth century haunting
quiet trots down a cobbled lane
echoes of an old surrey passing
stops to drink from a watering shed
chewing on blades of dry grass
slave folk mingling with the gentry
cargo of sponge, fruit and fabric
overflow into the street
rising like mist in a twenty first century caste
iron molded from an ancient past
darkness hangs heavy
lurking behind windows
painted black by the night


PART THIRTEEN

MOTHERLESS CHILD

motherless child lost in a land
left dry to scatter on baren rock
bastard child placed in a bowl
filled to less than half a whole
locked in a bottle for time to pass
slipping loosely through an hour glass
a grain of love slips through fingers
falling raw onto a pile of salt
to harden solid as a stone
layering a nation of forgotten souls
on sifting sands and rocky shoawls

PART FOURTEEN

CALABASH

west african fruit
found its way to bahama isles
a gourd to bail water from a wooden dingy
or bowl to catch rain from a leaky roof
barely a tree left to call this home
fruit falls to rot on the rich red earth
planting another tree for another year
a gentle reminder
five hundred years of survival
like a sentinel overlooking the bay

PART FIFTEEN

SUMMER SQUALL

dusk ascends onto the ocean
spraying water from a misty sea
darkness dragged across the evening
draped and pulled from an osprey's teeth
cloaked in a blanket of shimmering light
caught whole in the stillness of night
a cecada's song pitches high
darting dreams across a black sky
a heavenly calm breaks
into tempestuous rains
pulling winds with the strength
of hurricanes
drizzling down to a slow quiet patter
bringing cool to the warmth of a summer's night chatter
calypso breezes blow sweet scented jasman
dried hard from a harsh mid-day Sun

PART SIXTEEN

DANCE OF THE GULLS

seagulls return in flocks
through an evening's song
and into the night
musical dots rearrange the sky
motioning like a sonata....
flickering lights against a pale blue
majestically floating,
spreading wide into an open space
and into a muted glare of sun
forming, rearranging patterns
high and low
sounding shrieks to the wind
keeping constant
with the beat of time...
gliding through a stream of current
pushed up from the seat
hey follow a trail of clouds beyond
leaving a sky blank...


PART SEVENTEEN

SLEEPY CZARINAS
darkness fades to black
with the ocean and the sky
stars dimly lit glows faint
over a clear layer of clouds
moving slowly in the wind
blackness holds the night still
in the cool evening breeze
made invisible to all




PART EIGHTEEN


COLD WINDS

careful not to bay at the moon
this wolf more like sheep
too poor to wear a tattered garment
once proudly thinking it was gold
to shield against a cold, cold wind
pushed down into the slits of my house
I huddle and bend in memories found
as bitter winds blow into the cob
entangles a mind in a net of chain
an intricate web of cotton- thread
spun from a worm's secretion
criss -crossed with illusions
fish scales placed like armor
to guard a worn and fragile soul
still to perish in this storm
winds blow hard against a cart
carrying it further to the sea
deeper still into the oceans
from whence and where spirit is born...