Posted on No Comments on Back Home

Back Home

(Lyrics from Back Home by Andre Tanker)

 

i went away / i leave an i come back
home / i come back to stay / i must see meh way

It feels as though every time I leave, it takes
longer to come back.

first six months, then nine, now ten–

as if they have been grooming me to leave
forever.

I ask myself how people could leave for years
and years and never look back?


not even once?

But the truth is, it gets easier.

What is one year more when you’ve been gone for
five?

or ten?


or twenty?

i went away / i leave an i come back
home / i come back to stay / i must see meh way

 Each time I fear that she
will not take me back.

I think anyone who has ever left home for length of time can tell
you about that fear

that you have changed too much to go back to the place

that you cannot call it home without a sour taste in your mouth.

You don’t live somewhere without it changing you and can’t come back
without those changes

Whether is a yankee accent, or an expectation of something better.

i went away /
looking for another home / tried to run away / run way from my destiny /

Yuh see, we is d people who does come back sayin ting like
“Well back in Canada…”

in another world /
a world that was strange to me / tried to change myself / change my identity

But what we doesn’t tell yuh is how we don’t fit there either

Because whatever Canada or New York or England or other northern
promised land we have created

Despite the efficiency of public transit or the cheapness of “food”

We know that we will never really be more than our hyphenations

Than our exotic accents

Than our otherness.

Calling there home gives you that sour taste too.

You can’t live somewhere without it shaping you, and you can’t leave
without taking whatever idea of home you had with you.

i went away / i leave an i come back
home / i come back to stay / i must see meh way

Posted on No Comments on Carnival Poem I

Carnival Poem I

(I’m not dead).


Carnival Poem I

The music whips you into mania
And the sweat of the masses incites to ecstasy
If religion is the opiate,
This is the tonic.
Sweet like cascadoo,
Rush of power like cocaine,
Addictive like morphine.
We are the vessels
The street is the vein
Infecting all with
Wuk-up-yuh-waist-osis
And free-up-yuh-self-itis.
It is a chronic epidemic
Where the only cure
Is to succumb to the disease;
More riddim,
More kaiso,
More tempo.
Posted on No Comments on Trinidad, A Love Letter

Trinidad, A Love Letter

 Tobago, I’m sorry, but you aren’t included in this letter. You are so wonderful and special and you deserve your own letter, but I am not the person to write it.
Dear Trinidad,
I love you. I love the curve of your coasts, I love the hills and swamps and landmarks that dot your form like freckles, I love the way the greens of the flora and the colours of the flowers take you and I love the way your accent dances across sentences and sings everything you say.
 You’re so talented and creative and intelligent, and you bring all that talent, creativity and intelligence to everything you do. Your art, music, books and poetry move me, mind body and soul. I love how resourceful you are, the way you take the mundane and make it extraordinary and uniquely yours. I love the way you cook, so savory, so spicy, so flavourful, each bite, ambrosia, (my mouth waters just thinking about it).
 All that being said, Trinidad, you aren’t perfect. You think you’re invincible, but you’re not. All the beauty you possess will not last if you don’t take care of it. Nor will the resources you were blessed with last forever. I wish you wouldn’t let pride blind you. God may be a Trini, but that doesn’t mean you can do as you please without consequences. The fact that you are so amazing and wonderful doesn’t mean you should disregard the culture of others; they are equally important as yours.
 It’s a big world out there, and it’s easy for a small island to get lost in the fray. Resist the lure of following all the “developed” nations, action for action, instead learn from their mistakes and go from there. Following their lead blindly will only lead to ruin. You have the ingenuity, creativity, passion and resources to bring change in this world, a change that will only come if you do things your own special way.
With love,
A Citizen.