Poems

A NEW YEAR

A new year!

It's like fresh clothes for restless Father Time.

No need for baleful minds

To lure some idle hands to find

Work that the Devil carefully devised

To rip some hearts with pain

And conjure salty rain, from grieving eyes.

A new year!

Bright faces beam with expectations

For the gift of school.

Focus and determination

Must be ever present tools

Used by those who wish to obviate

The decadent streets of fools.

A new year

Still with memories of the past.

Some things will be salvaged.

Some might as well stay lost.

The year should muster courage

And be a constant friend to hope.

In the midst of any turmoil

There should be the will to cope.

What is existence really

If it interferes with dreams?

What is existence if it's spent

Enticing cruel schemes?

Are we not dead, though breathing

When we seek to hurt

Those who were made to co-exist with us

On earth?

We may ponder upon these things

As the New Year nods and smiles

And prepares itself adroitly

To take us on this ride.

!Feliz ano nuevo!

!Paz y amor!

- Erica Brown Marriott

-

NEW YEAR

New Year's Eve,

Few minutes to midnight!

Like a revolving door

The old year was gently turning

To allow the new year to enter

But Old year, seem reluctant to go

Stood looking back at what had been

The new, looking forward to things unseen.

Like a revolving door, reluctantly turning,

Allowing the Old Year to pass.

New Year enters anxiously

With a whispered prayer of hope on his lips

"Lord of the Universe,

Controller of the times,

Hold us, keep us,

Guide us into an unseen age"

- Otis-May Wills

-

Covered Mirrors

Refusing to see his reflection...

For decades his whole life of farce and satire

Was played out in everything.

Love was conditionally generous,

While a green eyed monster lurked within.

For women and those who bore his flesh.

Incarcerated through spite for her absence, her ambition.

To date bears indelible scars to adequately

survive.

Feigned love perpetrated,

We all suffered.

Tolerated in silence, His continued psychological and verbal abuse.

Then lie numb as he rummages through our secret garden.

Each posterity saw his reflection and despised

The cloud emanating from him.

From a long term heart break

Death bid and tore her away.

Yet he still refused to on cover the mirror, to see...

And stop playing victim

When he knew (or refused to acknowledge) that he was at fault.

Across the seas his love

Fails to be consummated.

He covers those mirrors

Brewing strife and sadness in that sacred space.

For he pines after that which never existed.

Behind the shores.

He established a foundation of anger, and painful emotions

Still playing on in his theatre of pernicious and mendacious lies.

Has exhumed/shattered everything back home

The impending reward

Awaiting him there

Is six feet by six feet;

A rectangular house made with mirrors that cannot be covered anymore.

A silent ceremony

And great celebration

That the curtains are down now.

And the theatre of Deception is finally no more!

- Christine Neil-Wright

The Year Ahead

The year ahead will not be paved with gold

But pregnant with opportunities

There will be stories untold

As new challenges await

Petals will unfold

Spurred to life

Many ideas to unwrap

Many open doors

Despite the ones now closed

A chance to make our lives worthwhile

Families become whole

To explore

To spread the love

And warmth of our smiles

Garnished with renewed hope

New bonds to form

As we relinquish the angst of the past

Regrettably

The year behind

Was paved with economic tremors

A volatile exhibit of crime

The new incumbent

A controversial

And inexperienced President elect

His impact on our country

Too soon to predict

Crimes of passion

Engulfed our land

A new fashion of killing our beautiful women

Senseless

But through it all

Nations have weathered the storm

The year behind

Was not the accepted norm

And so in earnest

We predict the unthinkable

Expect the unexpected

Pray for the best

And wait with abated breath

For The Year Ahead

- Charmaine Wallace

A New Heart Fah Di New Year

Man, wi country nice, an it would a even nicer if

everyone jus try fi live good,

Throw weh di animosity and display love and brotherhood.

Fi mi Aunty Matty seh people fi get real an get rid

a di plastic strain

Dat seem fi a mash up di brain, a render dem insane

An a cause di country so much pain.

She seh it teck little fi love, but much fi hate,

So fi di new year, open up love flood gate.

Let it light up an shine an illuminate di darkness,

An bring to mankind love and happiness.

Instead of a frown, smile, nuh cut yuh eye,

twinkle dem.

Instead of being a nuisance be a gem,

If is not a case weh yuh haffe lawfully defend life, no

matter what anyone duh yuh, even if

yuh get bun,

Nuh resort to di machete, knife or gun.

Try an find a good resolution,

To maime an kill is not di solution

Den remember seh di children dem a di future,

dem a di light,

Love an nurture dem an meck di future bright.

Dis ya new year meck wi turn ova a new page

Nuh matter what bleak circumstances, nuh matter

what di stage.

Ask God fi cleanse wi heart an let di love flow

An wi beautiful paradise Jamaica, wid all

di beautiful an talented people, will prosper and glow.

- Nalda Taylor-Wright