On My Bookshelf: Providential by Colin Channer

Channer’s debut poetry collection achieves an intimate and lyric meditation on family, policing, loss, and violence, but the work is enlivened by humour, tenderness, and the rich possibilities that come from honest reflection. Combined with a capacity to offer physical landscapes with painterly sensitivity and care, a graceful mining of the nuances of Jamaican patwa and American English, and a judicious use of metaphor and similie, Providential is a work of “heartical” insight and vulnerability.

No one, since Claude McKay’s folksy Constab Ballads of 1912, has attempted to tackle the unlikely literary figure of the Jamaican policeman. Now, over a century later, drawing on his own family knowledge of the world of the police, on the complex dynamic of his relationship with his father, and framed within the humane principles of Rasta and reggae, Channer has both explored the colonial origins of that police culture and brought us up to date in necessary ways. Here are poems that manage to turn the complex relationships between a man and his father, a man and his mother, and man and his country and a man and his children, into something akin to grace. Providential does not read like a novelist’s one-off flirtation with poetry, but an accomplished overture to what ought to be a remarkable literary journey for a writer of immense talent and versatility.

“…Written with pitch-perfect rhythm and a keen eye for supple, limber turns.” —Lorna Goodison, author of From Harvey River

“Channer writes with a moving vulnerability and much lyric grace, revealing new facets to familiar themes—home, family, history, and the evolving journey of self. A universal, timeless meditation.”
—Chris Abani, author of The Secret History of Las Vegas

Born in Jamaica to a pharmacist and cop. Colin Channer is named by Junot Díaz calls him “one of the Caribbean Diaspora’s finest writers.”

2015 MARCUS GARVEY ROOTZ EXTRAVAGANZA & LIBERATION FILM FESTIVAL

Rootz Foundation Inc. in association with the City of Lauderdale Lakes Present The: 2015 MARCUS GARVEY ROOTZ EXTRAVAGANZA & LIBERATION FILM FESTIVAL   Sunday, August 16, 2015 4.00 p.m. – 10.00 p.m.   Lauderdale Lakes Educational & Cultural Center 3850 W. Oakland Park Blvd., Lauderdale Lakes, Fl 33311     FILM SCHEDULE: Matinee Screenings
4.00 p.m. : “First Rasta” – A documentary by Helene Lee
5.15 p.m. : “COINTELPRO 101” – From the Freedom Archives
Feature Presentation 6.30 p.m. : Mumia Abu Jamal Long Distance Revolutionary - A film by Stephen Vittoria   Marcus Garvey Community Service Awardees: Dermot Hussey – Sirius/XM Radio Host Andrea Williams – “Running African” Host IRIE FM Radio Willie Stewart – Chairman of Embrace Music Foundation Norman “Humble Lion” Lawrence – WAVS Radio Personality   LIVE PERFORMANCE BY: Ikus Music Recording Artist MALEKUU Singing His Brand New Debut Release “Tears of Color”/”Lagrimas Con Color”
PLUS Ras Abuna, Ras Ijah & Phil Watkis Live In Concert   Go Green Fashionista ROOTZ Fashion Show Highlighting fashion of Africa, Brazil, Spain & the Caribbean   MC: Yvette Marshall of WAVS 1170AM Radio   Food * Refreshments * Books * Cultural Items On Sale   Entry Free   For More Info: (Tel) 754-264-2205 (Web) www.rootzfoundation.org Facebook: Rootz Foundation Inc

Light the White House Red, Black and Green on August 13

WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:

Light the White House Red, Black and Green on August 13 to honor Black people "held to serve or labor" who built it.

I recently read how the contributions of Black people "held to serve or labor" involved in building the White House have yet to be acknowledged in a real meaningful way. Although President Obama mentioned this in his remarks during the 50th anniversary of the March from Selma to Montgomery and First Lady Obama mentioned it as well, we think something more significant is needed.

August 13, 2015, marks 95 years since the designation of the colors Red, Black and Green as symbolizing Black people. This was done as part of the Declaration of Rights of the Negro People of the World on August 13, 1920.

For years, the Empire State Building has been lit Red, Black and Green to honor Dr. King, on his birthday. Light the White House Red, Black and Green on August 13, 2015, to honor the unpaid labor.

Happy Emancipation Day!

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;

None but ourselves can free our minds.

Have no fear for atomic energy,

'Cause none of them can stop the time.

How long shall they kill our prophets,

While we stand aside and look? Ooh!

Some say it's just a part of it:

We've got to fulfill the book.

Bob Marley, "Redemption Song."

Historic Virginia Key Beach Celebration Links Anniversaries of Joy and Pain

By Dinizulu Gene Tinnie

Historic Virginia Key Beach Park (HVKBP), Miami’s restored, reopened, and fondly remembered onetime “Colored Beach” of the segregation era, gained fame in its heyday as a hub of South Florida Black life, bringing together all neighborhoods and social classes, residents and visitors, working folks and celebrities, and family, church, and organizational gatherings large and small, at a remarkably scenic stretch of shoreline along  Bear Cut, the waterway which separates the two islands of Virginia Key and Key Biscayne, where it meets the Atlantic Ocean.

It is perhaps therefore only appropriate that when the Beach celebrates in grand style of the 70^th anniversary its official opening on August 1 1945, that celebration on that date will bring together numerous other remembrances, of both triumphs and tragedy which have contributed  importantly to the unique saga known as the Black experience in the Americas. 

What a day indeed August 1 represents in African World history:  Perhaps most famously, in the world beyond our shores, it is Emancipation Day, the date in 1834 that legal slavery officially ended throughout the British Empire, most notably in the Caribbean islands and related colonies. 

That joyous celebration was tempered, however, by two facts:  First, there were technicalities that made freedom a more gradual process; and secondly, the slaveholders were very generously compensated by the British government (at taxpayers’ expense) for their “losses” of an unpaid labor force.

(Interestingly, in very timely fashion, the archival records of all those who received compensation have come to light, revealing the names of some 46,000 British “slave” owners, including ancestors of some of today’s most prominent families and public officials, among whom is Prime Minister David Cameron.)

Nonetheless, a declaration of freedom anywhere is cause for celebration everywhere, especially in the United States, where the nightmare of slavery would persist for another three decades, and so, on August 1, 1842, as throngs of Black people celebrated the 8^th anniversary of British Emancipation in Philadelphia, PA, “the City of Brotherly Love,” the peaceful  marchers were attacked by a white (mostly oppressed Irish) mob, thus launching what history known as the Lombard Street Riot, which lasted for three days, with many Black people beaten and their homes looted, and a Black church and Abolitionnist meeting hall burned to the ground. 

Closer to home in both time and geography, in Miami, Florida, the protracted struggle for justice and equality continued into the 20^th century with a major victory 70 years ago on August 1, 1945, when Virginia Key Beach was officially opened as an instantly popular Dade County Park for the exclusive use of Negroes, during the Jim Crow segregation days. 

It was a not a victory for integration (that would come later), but for acquiring a “separate and equal” bathing beach for the Colored population where none had existed before, and came in response to a courageous protest and demand issued only months earlier.

The beach would go on to be developed into one of the finest Negro parks in the South, a place oof beauty and joy attracting visiting celebrities, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as well as local residents to amenities that were very close to the equal of those on Crandon Park.

Yet, even as recently established Virginia Key Beach was blossoming into a much-cherished hub of social, cultural, and spiritual activity, August 1, 1947 would enter history as one of Miami’s bleakest days, as on that Sunday, under eminent domain, no less than 35 African American families were forcibly evicted from the Railroad Shop Colored Addition neighborhood, with their possessions hauled out to the street (many of which were destroyed by the rain that evening), to make room for building a new school (present-day Allapattah Middle) and park for White residents. 

There is a movement to rename the school so as to recognize this history, possibly in memory of the late Georgia Jones Ayres, who did more than any individual to ensure that the story was not forgotten, and made known to newcomers to Miami. 

On August 1, 2915, the past struggles for justice and equality, particularly of African Americans and Native Americans (the earliest recorded history of Virginia Key Beach is of the killing of three Seminoles  at the site by U.S. forces in 1838), will be remembered in the most effective way, with a joyous celebration that pays tribute to the generations before us who passed on the gift of life and unprecedented opportunities, and a legacy to younger generations, some of whom are creating their own fond memories today.

The day-long celebration, which is free and open to the public (but with Sunpass toll on Rickenbacker Causeway, and a parking fee of $8 per vehicle), will feature free amusement rides, exhibitions entertainment, a vintage car show, and much more.

For further information, please call 305-960-4600.

Dinizulu Gene Tinnie is Chair of the City of Miami Virginia Key Beach Park Trust

Image: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article20608311.html

A Hymn for Bree Newsome

How could Bree have known, as the ash from blackened

churches coated monuments that mocked the slaughter

of Charleston’s innocents, who had invited a fiend,

unafraid of the hallowed ground of Africans, into the midst

of their sanctuary where he would spill blood over the pews

and taunt the god who had promised to lift the yoke off

their backs brailled with stripes of the Klan, the midnight

raiders whose flaming crosses had struck terror into the marrow

of her ancestors, yet who remained unbowed and whose voices

rustled through the live oaks surrounding the capitol--

that when she stripped the pole of its stars and bars, the fear

that had held generations would disappear from southern skies?

Image: https://dakrolak.wordpress.com/2015/06/28/comic-book-superhero-freebree/

Five (More) Questions With Pamela Mordecai

Set on the island of St. Christopher, Pamela Mordecai's latest book, Red Jacket, confronts the issues of prejudice and colorism in Africa and its diaspora. Growing up in a large extended black family, the protagonist, Grace Carpenter, must face the taunts of neighbourhood children and elders who are disturbed by her presence. For Grace is a redibo with copper coloured skin, red hair, and grey eyes. Adding to Grace's confusion about her place within her family and culture is her ignorance of her birth mother and the resistance of family members to reveal the identity of her father. Grace’s quest to discover her familial origins takes her on a journey away from the Caribbean to Africa and back home again.

After reading this remarkable novel, I had the pleasure of conducting this interview via email with Pam.

1. Why did you choose an imaginary island as the Caribbean setting?

I chose an imaginary island for the Caribbean setting because it gave me latitude. In answering that question – because it's been asked before – I've invoked a poem of mine in Certifiable called "Jus a Likl lovin.” There are two lines in that poem that speak of "the Mona moon heaving/ up from the sea". Kamau Brathwaite called me to account on that, since of course the Mona moon does no such thing! So I had to confess to him that I moved the moon because I needed the rhyme! I didn't want to be hamstrung by that kind of constraint.

If I made up my own island, I could write without being accountable where physical and social settings, behaviours, customs and even history are concerned. Thus, Marcus Garvey visits the imaginary St Chris, St Chris children speak 'standard' English exclusively when they are on school premises, and so on. Though I know Jamaica over fifty years well, I didn't want it to tie me down. To put it simply, I took the line of least resistance and greatest imaginative freedom.

2. Is this the same reason you chose Mabuli (the imagined West African country)?

In the case of Mabuli, the situation was the same and quite the opposite – the same because I needed the imaginative freedom with Mabuli also, the opposite because I needed it for other reasons. Where the island setting was concerned, I didn't want to be constrained by the need to be accurate in describing a real and very familiar place. Where the West African setting was concerned, I was working on the basis of research alone, for I've never been to West Africa. Though I was describing a made-up place, it's a place with a very specific location – Mali to the West, Burkina Faso to the east, Côte d'Ivoire to the south.

In order to be persuasive, I had to be accurate about climate, topography, flora and fauna, the history of the region, the weather over the period of years when the action in the novel takes place, and so on. So that there is indeed a Bandagara Escarpment in Mali, and the Tellem people did live there before the Dogon, and the Tellem were indeed reputed to fly, never mind that the specific incident in Red Jacket that explains how English got to Mabuli is imagined.

I needed to make Mabuli persuasive in those respects, but I needed my fancy licensed to advance some important aspects of the story, for instance the 'fact' of an organization such as the Oti, as well as certain, if you want, magical realist elements, like the walking stones and the weeping keystone in the Kenbara Stone Circle.

3. Why did you include Marcus Garvey in the narrative?

Many people fail to recognize what an extraordinary man Garvey was, and the breadth of his influence. It stretched far and wide, and I wanted my imaginary St Chris to be one of the places that he visited, and where he left his mark.

4. Ultimately, Red Jacket is about Grace's search for identity and one of her most steadfast allies is the priest, Father James Atule. Are you suggesting that the quest for self-awareness is also a spiritual journey?

At this point in my life, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s all one: as Lauryn Hill famously said, “Everything is everything.” For a while now, I’ve avoided the word “religion” because it suggests allegiances, and these have always led to fights, but I’m not sure that I even distinguish between spiritual and physical any more. There is only the journey of the individual self trying to find its way with other selves through time, in a perhaps imagined, perhaps material, world. Grace is lucky to have James Atule S.J. join her on that journey, but not because he’s a priest – because he is who he is, a fellow pilgrim, fallible and sometimes frightened, but generous and caring deeply about his fellow human beings nonetheless. Even if she hadn’t met him, there are others who from early on show Grace (not by instruction, but also by being who they are) that the journey to self-awareness and a sense of worth as a person is not a material one.

The most important of these persons is of course, Gramps. As a child Grace observes that Gramps’s God is different and that “he and Gramps have conversations all the time.” Also, “God and Gramps are often scamps together.” Her idea of a rascally God in cahoots with her rascally grandfather is an early grasp of a person with rich self-awareness, a conviction of his unique and worthy personhood. Shortly after that, she makes this quite clear: “Gramps is special. God is smart so he would know.” We walk in quest of our specialness, but neither wealth nor importance nor fame will bestow it on us. For sure, our journey to discovering who we are is what we call “spiritual” – for lack of a fuller appreciation of the Everything-that’s-everything!

5. I was really struck by this passage: "Jesus says to love our neighbours as ourselves... He exemplified that proper self-love, daring to be who he was, the Messiah, son of God, and getting killed for it. Whenever we are rejected, we need to remember that and to remember too that he rises again and his resurrected self renews the sacred self of each of us, making us more lovable.” Would it be presumptuous to suggest that this manifesto of faith is not merely part of a text, but refers also to your life and career?

It wouldn’t be presumptuous at all.








About Pamela Mordecai

Pamela Mordecai was born in Jamaica. She has published five collections of poetry, with a sixth, de book of Mary, to appear in fall 2015. Pink Icing, an anthology of short fiction, appeared in 2006, while Red Jacket is her first novel. She has published five children’s books and her poetry for children is widely anthologized – indeed, one of her children’s poems recently appeared in The Guardian (UK) in a list of “top ten poems to remember and recite”. She has also written many textbooks and edited or co-edited groundbreaking anthologies of Caribbean writing. Her poems have been shortlisted for the Canada Writes CBC Poetry Prize and the Bridport Prize (U.K.) and her short fiction for the James Tiptree Jr Literary Award. She is the recipient of the Institute of Jamaica’s Centenary and Bronze Musgrave Medals, the Vic Reid Award for Children’s Writing, and the Burla Award. Pamela lives in Kitchener.

FIve Questions With Pamela Mordecai
http://geoffreyphilp.blogspot.com/2012/09/five-questions-with-pamela-mordecai.html

Tracing the Deep Imprints of Zora Neale Hurston, Claude McKay and Geoffrey Holder in New York

 (From L-R: Andrene Bonner, Paul Campbell, Dr. Michael Wiltshire)

By  Faith P. Nelson

Playwright Andrene Bonner and veteran actor and director Paul Campbell are pulling from the annals of American history to celebrate Harlem’s massive contribution to the world with a Broadway-style  musical at Brooklyn’s Boys and Girls High School on June 14, 2015. Listening in on their discussions about plot, scene structure and production elements, one can’t help but imagine the process of discovery, the quiet excitement that would have permeated the literary salons of 1920s Harlem. 

Jumping forward half a century, Bonner and Campbell prompt some meditation on the power duo - legendary director choreographer Geoffrey Holder and one of his chief collaborators, actress and dancer Carmen de Lavallade. West Indians have long made permeable the cultural boundaries between the island nations and New York, the US’s most powerful and populous city. Following in the footsteps of Trinidadian Geoffrey Holder and his Broadway legacy, creative virtuosos Bonner and Campbell, fluent in the language of both cultures, have no problems crossing the divide to honor, on a grand scale the long gone Renaissance heroes.  

The idea for the project was the brainchild of Dr. Michael Wiltshire, executive principal of Boys and Girls High School and Medgar Evers College Prep in Brooklyn. He invited Bonner to come up with a concept to celebrate the Centenary of the Harlem Renaissance. The result was Ruby the Musical penned in a very short time by the novelist and high school teacher.

This June revival comes very soon after the initial one-day run in Spring 2015. Reviews of the earlier production were so encouraging that Wiltshire decided to hire Paul Campbell to bring a world view to the production. This go-round, Sweet Honey in the Rock alumna Tulani Kinard has teamed up with the playwright to create original music in the Jazz, Blues and African tradition. Fitting the rich contributions of this period of American history into 90 minutes is no small feat. When asked what her priorities were for the script, Bonner said that her approach was to “anchor Ruby in ancestral Africa where it all began and to cover the different vocabularies – visual art, music – that articulated the political perspective of the time. A proponent of education and women’s rights she intentionally built the lead character “to take agency of her own life as a young woman.”

Magical realism at its most entertaining and educational, the play follows Ruby from a freedom starved south to the lights of New York and artistic expression in Harlem. In one evening, the audience experiences with Ruby, the transforming narratives of Zora Neale Hurston, Paul Robeson, James Baldwin, W E B Dubois, Marcus Garvey and Ethel Waters among other figures.

Paul Campbell’s superior teaching skills are in evidence as he takes romantic leads Javia Richards and Hyven Charles and the rest of the 120-member cast through their paces in scene study and technical rehearsals in this ambitious production. Nothing escapes his attention whether costume improvement or the need for a quick huddle with choreographers Michael Forde and Wilhelmina Taylor.  Bonner gushes at the opportunity to continue to open her students to this level of creative production.

There is more to the night than the staging of Ruby the Musical. Like Geoffrey Holder before him, Paul Campbell is an accomplished visual artist. He picked up painting while at the Jamaica School of Drama and never abandoned his brushes. His large canvases are a blend of surrealism and cubism, a nod to modern African art and lush elegant Caribbean vernacular. Some of his work will be on display at the student and staff exhibition and reception which precedes the performance. Bonner herself, post the School of Drama and well paid acting jobs, collected more degrees in theatre arts and literature in California and New York. Her activities extend beyond the stage. When asked what she will do after the play, Bonner replied, “I will return to my other babies, my two fiction novels that are pining for attention during this production.” She further confided that both herself and Campbell have their own stage productions in development and plan to tackle other projects as a team. That collaboration is promising for theatre on New York soil.

The art reception and play launch on June 14, 2015 at Boys and Girls High School.

Faith Nelson is a freelance writer in Washington DC.


Andrene Bonner, Playwright
Photo Credit: Yvonne Taylor

Paul Campbell, Director
Photo Credit: Ray Balgrove

Dr. Michael Wiltshire
Photo Credit: Medgar Evers Preparatory Collection

On My Bookshelf: Red Jacket by Pamela Mordecai

Nuh Go Deh

There has been an amplification in incidences of reported child sexual abuse in Jamaica. Lavern Deer, President, Jamaica International Female Football Development Inc. (JIFFD), Dr. Susan Davis, former Jamaica Diaspora Advisory Board Representative for Southern USA, Dona-Lee Raymond, a concerned citizen, and other members of the Diaspora, have consequently joined forces with ‘EVE For Life’ (EVE) in Jamaica to take immediate action!.

“For the past 20 years, in Jamaica land we love, 20 per cent of girls and women consistently report that they have been forced to have sex. This means that ONE IN EVERY FIVE WOMEN IN JAMAICA has reported being raped or has had their bodies violated against their will as corroborated by the National Sexual and Reproductive Health Surveys. 

In Jamaica, a total of 10,000 cases of child abuse were reported in 2013 alone, according to the Jamaican government statistics. 

In America, The American Medical Association also states that:
•    1 in 3 girls are sexually abused before the age of 18.
•    1 in 5 boys are sexually abused before the age of 18.
•    There were 307 report FORCIBLE RAPES in Broward County in 2012 and 309 reported FORCIBLE RAPES from January to June 2013

To achieve successful outcomes both locally and internationally, the newly formed Diaspora task force will focus on mobilizing community support, fundraising, public relations, and legislature.

The "NUH GUH DEH" – Jamaica Campaign is administered by EVE and is supported
by United Nations (UN) agencies including UNFPA, UNICEF, UNDP, UNAIDS,
UNESCO, and UN Women.

The “NUH GUH DEH” – Diaspora Campaign is administered by a JIFFD local task force, has the endorsement of the Consul General of Jamaica to Miami and support from elected officials such as Miramar Mayor, Wayne Messam and his office.

“This issue of child sexual abuse is a worldwide problem, and one which affects local communities.  Of the thirty one Broward cities it is estimated that an average of two cases are reported per month, per city.  With this in mind I am prepared to support the NGD initiative as it addresses the problem locally and internationally”
~Mayor Messam, City of Miramar

CALL TO ACTION

On October 11, 2014, EVE for Life officially launched the “Nuh Guh Deh!” National Campaign to end sex with the girl child. It is their response in trying to curb the number of pregnant and HIV positive girls as young as thirteen years, who are referred to their programs. The overarching goal is to contribute to reducing the incidents of sexual abuse of the girl child in Jamaica.  By extension JIFFD has partnered with EVE to highlight the campaign and to encompass not just our young girls, but our young boys as well.

There is an array of legislation which should serve to protect our children from sexual abuse: the Sexual Offences Act, the Child Care and Protection Act, the Trafficking in Persons Act, the Child Pornography (Prevention) Act, among others. Jamaica also has a number of government organizations and systems to protect children against all forms of abuse, including the Office of the Children’s Registry, the Office of the Children’s Advocate, the Child Development Agency and the Ananda Alert.

To this end the NUH GUH DEH - Diaspora here in the USA will align its key outcomes to those of NUH GUH DEH - Jamaica, which includes bringing awareness and urging a zero tolerance approach to the abuse of children by:

1.    Increasing awareness about the long term physical, emotional, health, financial and social consequences of sexual abuse of young girls and boys
2.    Mobilizing Jamaicans to report acts of sexual violence against children
3.    Encouraging Jamaicans to use the phrase “Nuh Guh Deh!” to challenge current behaviors of men who sexually exploit children.
4.    Supporting the efforts of EVE and other similar agencies in Jamaica, and assisting local initiatives to empower young people and foster positive development.
5.     Helping to fund-raise so we can realize the key objectives outlined.

About EVE for Life (EVE)
EVE is a non-governmental organization in Jamaica, founded to support women and children infected and affected by HIV, but now additionally are undertaking the task of combating Child Abuse. Women and children are increasingly seeking psychosocial support and skills to help them to live normal lives. Eve for Life seeks to fill that gap.  
They were registered in February 2009 as a non- governmental organization (NGO) with charitable status.Their ‘Mission’ is to contribute to the Jamaica HIV response through innovative interventions that will prevent new infections and improve the quality of life of women and children living with or affected by HIV.

EVE for Life works with different national and international non-governmental organizations, civil society, governmental agencies and multilateral agencies
http://www.eveforlife.org/

About JIFFD

The Jamaica International Female Football Development, Inc. (JIFFD) is a 501c3 NPO and a US Federal Government SAM Vendor. JIFFD is dedicated to serve as a facilitator and conduit, for the holistic development of young females, in Jamaica and the international communities that impact same. The extended concept is to aggressively engage domestic and international stakeholders, to foster increased and consistent awareness of the systemic problems impeding such development, primarily in socio-economically challenging communities.

Their ‘Vision’ is to provide aggressive outreach, strategic collaboration amongst municipal, business and NGO stakeholders, and international partnerships, creating a holistic female development framework and program for girls ages 6 through 24, encompassing football training; educational support; health support; and social development. http://jiffd.org/

The Partnership

Both EVE and JIFFD under their purviews of interest and work with young girls in Jamaica, have now extended their portfolios to include: protecting children at large from the pervasive sexual abuse; and eroding the taboos associated with highlighting these offenses, which continue to be rife in our communities. Through the NUH GUH DEH Campaign we pledge to break these strongholds for the love of our girls and our boys.

www.nuhguhdeh.org

Mervyn Morris @ Liberty Hill Great House

Earth Day 2015: "Everglades Litany"

and blessed be the morning star in the arms of gumbo limbo

blessed be the sun on the cruciform wings of anhingas

blessed be the wind where ospreys and black vultures ride

blessed be zebra butterflies on crowns of tamarind

blessed be lightning on the spires of royal palms.

blessed be wildfires that temper berries of the green hawthorn

blessed be hurricanes that tear at the bark of tallowwood and bay-cedars

blessed be bracken and wild olives huddled by salt marshes

blessed be august heat that rasps the throat of morning glories

blessed be panthers and deer hiding behind a screen of leatherwood

blessed be brown pelicans grunting in mangroves after thunderstorms

blessed be the evening star over aisles of magnolias

blessed be barred owls cooing by swamps and hardwood hammocks

blessed be june beetles dusting pollen off their backs in the damp air

blessed be woodstorks and spoonbills wading through resurrection ferns

blessed be chanterelles, their yellow plumes rising from oak and pine

blessed be the moon ripening with pond apples on the banks of canals

blessed be dew and mist, fog and hail, falling on blades of  sugar cane

blessed be  loggerhead turtles lumbering past the thorns of anemones

blessed be, blessed be all that move, live, and breathe on the edge of these lakes

blessed be, blessed be... everything

Geoffrey Philp

Excerpt from xango music: http://www.amazon.com/Xango-Music-Geoffrey-Philp/dp/1900715465

 

 

Image: http://www.campingroadtrip.com/tips-and-articles/best-things-to-do-at-everglades-national-park

 

 

On My Bookshelf: Spring Evenings in Sterling Street: Poems by Eliot Bliss [Kindle Edition]

Eliot (Eileen) Bliss was a Creole writer born in 1903 in Kingston, Jamaica, a British colony at the time. She died, forgotten and neglected, in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, in December 1990. At her side was her lifelong companion, Patricia Allen-Burns, who had supported and taken care of her for 60 years.

The poems collected here were written from 1922 to 1931, and were found in 2004 in the apartment she had shared with Ms Allen-Burns.These poems reflect different stages and periods in Eliot Bliss’s life: There are poems that bring to mind the Caribbean, where she was born and whose memory she would always carry with her; others are dedicated to spiritual life; some to important literary figures, women who had an influence on her life.

About the Editor

Michela A. Calderaro, an Associate Editor of Calabash: A Journal of Caribbean Arts and Letters, teaches English and Postcolonial Literature at the University of Trieste (Italy). Dr. Calderaro, whose critical works include a book on Ford Madox Ford and numerous articles on British, American and Anglophone Caribbean writers, is currently working on Creole writer Eliot (Eileen) Bliss’s biography.

Available @ Amazon: http://goo.gl/QnjkaC