9/20/2016

Small Island Anthology

Interested in submitting a poem, short story or non-fiction? Below are submission details for the upcoming Small Island Anthology:

Best of luck!

http://www.commonwealthwriters.org/small-island-anthology-call/


8/15/2016

Our Bolt (For Usain St. Leo)

He made easy strides,
effortless glides
into the history books.

9.81 seconds
of pure thrill
down the track
shouts of "Usain, Usain"
at his back.

At the finish line
he looked left
he looked right
dazzling smile
leaving the competition
stunned and speechless!

Our Bolt
ever playful
ever gracious
One beautiful final(?) Olympic gift
to this little island rock,
to the world.

Our Bolt
Large
Phenomenal
Jamaican
Legend.

Yasmin Morais
Copyright August 2016

3/17/2016

When Men Give You Wings (A Tribute to Louis Lindsay By Taitu Heron)



When men give you wings
(In Memory of Louis Lindsay)
 
(men as gatekeepers of patriarchy….police your body, curtail your mind, restrict agency, confine you to reproductive citizen for the state)

When men give you wings you can surely not but fly
I mean fairy fly
Imaginary I can’t believe fly
I mean supercatgerflagerlisticflasticflyblackgirlmagicfly
YET THERE ARE SOME WHO shit (excrete) entitlement so stink
you have to eak a different route to rise

When men give you wings to fly you smile through tears
And blast easy through storms stand injustice in the face badass like a hurricanebreezekindafly
I mean ibelieveicanflyibeliveicantouchthescky…..kindoffly
Yet there those who shit entitlement rotten
You have to cry

When men give you wings you burst thru a thousand skies
And voice the terrible woes into victories
transform political venom into legislative love
Move indebted thunder to sustainable stars
Yet there are some who shit the mud of mean
Not even an inch yuh likl bitch
You have to oops make a dodge duck a block chant more than a psalm a day
And make your peace
Because you still going to fly

When men give you wings
You become a child buss out naturally because there was no gate
Oh woman of no mental doors
Purposeful march because this space is already yours
Ancestors got your back stand rising rooted high wingspan wide
Goddess soaring whistling wind in the still fighting dust of other men wondering what just happened.

Copyright 2016 Taitu Heron 
Reprinted with permission.