Independence for Sale
- I didn’t know that my kind were cannibals: They’ll peel the skin off each other with their teeth, rip limbs apart with their hands, eat them, then serve it to their children.
- I didn’t know that women were flowers and men-gardeners: My father told me, “honey, that’s the way it’s supposed to be”. But all I ever see, is men taking their sons into gardens to plough the ground and destroy them.
- I didn’t know that my eyes were broken: My kind don’t look like me no more, and I feel like I’m the only one who sees the color Black. Am I? A lot of my sisters and brothers prefer to see the color White.
- I didn’t know criminals dressed up as policemen: I saw one rob a man who looked like him, but spoke a different language. We’re afraid, so tell me, who are we supposed to go to for help?
- I didn’t know polygamy was my country’s “sweetheart”: I don’t want God to punish me for not having a sweet heart.
- I didn’t know that this rock is still a slave to the hands who throw money at it: Thank you sir, are you enjoying your stay mam? Will that be all?
- I didn’t know that a leader became a mother during election: Now, he has to take care of his home and his children-who, will put him to death without trial, when water begins to drip from roof tops.
- I didn’t know my island was a prostitute: While her voyeur children watch, moguls spread her legs open and plant seeds of capitalism inside of her.
- I didn’t know what it meant to be Bahamian: The colors Gold, Black, and Aquamarine have been washed dry into Red, White and Blue.
- I didn’t know my society was segregated: Why does the West bleed money and power when the East bleeds blood and poverty? I rarely see a white man or woman, but when I do, I always wonder if they breathe the same air that I do.
- I didn’t know that pullin, pushin, and poverty was the holy trinity of my country: Sometimes, God don’t exist here.
- I didn’t know the older generation depended so much on the younger generation: I’m sorry, there hasn’t been any sign of a black Moses who will lead us to freedom again.
- I didn’t know that you’d be interested: The government said people 17 and under have no sense, no voice, but at 16 are able to give consent, when that makes no sense.
- I didn’t know I lived in a jungle.
- I thought my home was supposed to be paradise.
- I thought I was supposed to have a better life.
- I thought I was free.
At least now
I know how much my independence is worth.
Lay Me Naked
Lay me naked
Nail my hands and feet down
Like Christ on the cross
Stretch my broken bruised body out
And crucify me
Tightly grip my head back with your hands
And crack into my skull
You’ll find repressed memories
Of childhood times
Ruptured thoughts, dreams, hopes
And baneful secrets that burgeoned from hell to heaven
Into poisoned trees of guilt and crimes
Split my sternum
You’ll peer through a forlorn heart
On one side
you’ll meet the woman that tore it down
My mother
And on the other
The only men that tried rebuilding it
As if it were their own hearts being ambushed by their wives
My brother and father
Lying shallowly
In my lungs
You’ll feel
Vacant voids of air that once dropped and rose like the bounce of freshly pressed hair
Inside my liver you’ll find swarms of
Toxins and tears at war
Itching red
Then smoldering blue
In my stomach
An empty and lonely house
That’s still pending to become a home for my unborn children
Because
When you grip my 16-year-old waist
Beneath my bladder
You’ll see the un-plucked flower of my… …
Virginity.
Dark Shades of Blue
I waltz with fear
On pianos of black and white keys
Where truth comes from the staccato of my heart and feet
In this place
Tears are their own masters
And my black face
Their Canvas
In this place
Joy seldomly visits
Upon each return
It becomes a foreigner in its own home
In this place
Faith is like the wavering flame on a candlestick
In this place
WAR becomes RAW
And
Time from its past still moves
In this blue house
Scars burn forever
In this blue house
The sky never existed
Up above were only men and women
Molding me from … … …
Dark Shades of Blue
