MY BEAUTIFUL JAMAICA

I do not lie above the rest

my heart is at rest it is beating steady

Jamaica will always be my home

the clear blue waters the birds

making a nest in my roof

the old man selling fish on the wharf

Saturday comes and it is church time

I close my eyes and see my beautiful Jamaica

an old man is whistling as he walks by

my vision

an old man is calling

In the end I am in Brooklyn, New York,

selling jewelry on the side of the busy street,

looking for a way to buy a butter roll,

and the man at the counter eyeing me suspiciously.

In my beautiful Jamaica no one thought I was a stranger.

Here there are strangers everywhere.

IT'S FOREVER

IT'S FOREVER

Print is stuck forever in my mind.

It lacks on wind of chance and stormy days.

On the end of promise and poverty,

nothing is secret not the wind, not the wind,

not the rain that falls in sheets.

I found myself walking like a shadow born from pain,

in my heart and in my head. I am one with the wind.

While tending the lion, I ask myself do you know what

you're tending or who? What flock, what face in the mist?

Happiness glows and glows and glows

and I am standing here, waiting for the bus boy to relinquish me

of my stale food and old plates at a restaurant downtown.

THE HIPPO SAYS TO TRY HARDER.

THE HIPPO SAYS TO TRY HARDER

I told myself I wouldn't dance at the wedding

because it would make me look like a goddamn

fool and usually it did because I wasn't always

kept up in appearance sometimes I dressed up

like a hobo to keep the other kids occupied

because I didn't know how to stand on my own

two feet and yesterday was gone just like that

and no more making people laugh but then a new day

was coming and I could make people laugh again

just like every day after that and then one time I

thought I saw a hippo waddling across the road on

my trip to Florida and it smiled at me and I thought

I heard it talk to me in my mind just like animals do

sometimes when they're trying to tell you something

that was rather important more so than necessary

or even quite extraordinary I thought to myself

maybe this wouldn't be such a bad gig after all

you know but maybe I could do a little better at it

and sometimes that's the only thing you need to do,

try harder next time.