Port-of-Spain
“Port of Spain, the
sum of history, Froude´s non-people, a downtown babel
of shop signs and streets,
mongrelized, polyglot,
a ferment without history, like heaven”.
Derek Walcott, The Antilles: Fragments of Epic Memory
Like a wave in d sky
But on lan’ an’ is
not a wave but a dragon dancin’ soca an’ dat does move
D hip an’ give it to
me gimme gi’ meh love dat temptress ass hot
Like muh princess
here/ Mmm
An’ more still meh
soul lookin’ fuh yuh in d forests an’ caves an’ rivers an’
Buttons shit enough remove
everyting dat comes
Now comes d husband
St. George he name From Great Britain
“Yuh know dahlin’ time
Time surroun’ we like
wind
Undisciplined
An’ so
We dance in limbo”
“Sweet mama ah tellin’
yuh dat Borges
Dat St. Borges aim he
African spear
At d neck an’
Is meh neck so
Stop screwin/ aroun’/Let
meh screw/You/Meh love”
“We chirren go be
damned a hundred times ovah
We parents damned a
hundred times dey go be
Verse is d hidden
rose
In d middle
Of a tornado of
thorns”
But
it eh d rose but words an’ is not St. Borges but Christopher
Repsol
who in d name of d King I declare I’s a slave to yuh dance a
Fricana
meh sister come on mama gimme yuh tithe and yuh lil pearl oh how
Yuh
excite meh / Mmm
An’
even more so in yuh seas ah fine yuh suddenly wet an’ suddenly a prick
Suddenly
love comin’ like a wave yuh love arrive
in meh life
Like a wave of uneven force
“Petals
we goin’ to d sky
Fallin’dong
In
circles lookin’ fuh d verb
Of a
centre
Dat
is silence an’ den”
“But
dat verb is time an’ I is time an’
You also
is time if yuh dance wit’ me meh love yuh won’t
Be worth flowers or roses or
composures that thou wast used to
From me if thou couldst have
left thou wouldst have
But thou cannot leave
because thou art mine wife”
“Yuh
tie meh up tuh d sky by meh foot
Like
a pendulum
D
wind movin’ meh head
Denyin’sayin’
tuh d floor
Its
memory:
Pile
d Indians’ gold bodies high it was twelve
On d
clock though it wasn’t clocks it was
Peace
in spite of war equality
Though
the chief did come like he comin’ now
D
Beloved hip movement takin’ me straight over
Head
tuh d sky.
