Literary Arts Showcase

Of Strength, Courage and Faith What am I doing here in this office…why…but she knew why. The events of the past 18 months still spun around in her mind like butterflies dancing around a sunflower. Causing her sleepless nights. It was as though she could not shut down. This has [...]

The Moirai (Or When Tears Are Never Enough) It seems to be the will of those sisters three that the words clawing up from deep within cannot cascade, cannot bubble up from my fingertips and spill from the tip of my pen so that ink can carve into thread so [...]

You landed here at three in the afternoon, Heralded by an anthem of gunshots and fire. You landed here in the heat of the moment, When blood had turned to fire, And tears to iron. You landed here because of the ballot, To make sure we swallowed the bullet You [...]

What should I do when the world rages at me? What should I feel when my screams are swallowed by the void? What should I do when I have nothing but a thousand yard stare and words trapped in my mind, and walls locked in my throat? What should I [...]

Confined to the curtilage of my home during the lockdown, I discovered quite by chance that I need not travel abroad in order to find adventure. In fact, I learned that adventure would find me even if I could not escape the isolation of my house. On the small round [...]

The brilliance of Bajans is in our resilience... True ... we does be hard ears and stubborn We don’t like to listen and we like to do things we own way And sometimes? Sometimes we like to be loud and strong Even tho what we say might be wrong and [...]

We in d hot sun, long line ‘till it bend get up front and hear dem: “Sir use yuh head not yuh hand” Frustrations high - d machine cursing Bleep; bleep; bleep Once yuh walk in But all I hearing is... "Normal Temperature" We miss two Crop Over’s now A [...]

No retreat. No surrender. It’s not easy To fight An enemy We cannot see Cannot touch But can only feel, And by then it may be too late. No retreat. No surrender. It’s not easy To restrict Movement And abandon Liming with friends While young and old Complain and are [...]

Hot Boiling Glows Glow Flows Flow Strong Down Down Into the valley Into the sea Cementing Its place In our memories. Fine Dust Flies Far Far- ther And Fast Fast- er Eastward O'er The ocean Islands covered Together. Her deepest Grumblings Like a scorned woman's Persistent Mumblings Raging, Temper Escalating [...]

It seemed, Distant. Irrelevant. Almost exotic. We are resistant. It seemed, Common. Overdone. It’s just a flu. ‘Tis the season. It seemed, Eastern. Until it wasn’t. The Europeans And Americans Must have a plan For containment. But they didn’t. And then, It seemed, Close. Too close For comfort. Too close [...]

Lady, Let us soothe Your cares With a lullaby So sweet It will send you To sleep. Lady, Let us calm Your angst With a sound So strong It will make you Quiet down. I am a stranger To you, Lady, Not born of your land But I hold hands [...]

In all we lifetime. Neiduh in we parents’ Or grandparents’ own, We nevuh see nuttin so. We had de ’37 riots, De 2nd world war, An’ even Janet in ’56. But none uh dem didn feel like dis. I remembuh hearin bout smallpox An’ dem sorta plagues Dat de Europeans [...]

Yuh know dat fren Dat say dem passin rong To shout yuh fuh a few minutes, But den when she come, She got bout 5 udduh frens wid she An’ dem does stan’ fuh de whole blasted day, An’ because yuh didn’ expeck nuh more Dan a “Hello, how yuh? [...]

So-shall Dis-stance Mek I-so-late. You-so-late. We so late To shut down. Lock down. Stop from round At people house. We so late To be home bound. We so late To plant de ground. To be concerned Food supplies gine go down. Dis state we in Could last real long. Too [...]

Lock up in we yard An tings real hard. Cyah guh out in de street Man tings real bleak. We stick up at home. De rum shop shut -Yuh might lose yuh rum gut- Cyah guh out on de block Cause we might get caught. Dominoes wid de men Come [...]

The Dusk Has Closen In

How has 2021 been for me? The answer lies predominantly in what it has no longer been, which requires some historical context. Loneliness is a defining feature of the human experience. We were pulled into this world, into a skin that separates us, and, likewise, will be tugged from it. [...]

Mirror Not Included

Garden State of Mind Infestation Mosaic mycelia coil, assuming a soursop tree shape. They coat its fruits' spines. Also fenced in with disease, Mangifera’s offerings are false. Ripening before you could call them mangoes, they shrivel to unclasp and fall. The aborted, each a failed family tree, draw money flies [...]

PRELUDE: Stanton stood calmly at the zebra crossing, mildly distracted by earlier events of the morning… There was really no need for Nicole to carry on and on about the prolonged domino session with the boys. The losses and wins were coming so fast and steadily with all de exciting [...]

You wash your hands. You lather them with antibacterial soap and you scrub till the skin is raw and red. Then you turn the tap off with your elbow pushing the bathroom door open with your back to exit. You sit, it has now become your days’ work, you sit [...]

I a nobody On the literary scene Watched them as they craft Saw the adoration As with the who is who They laughed Poetry & stories poured from their fingertips like manna To be devoured by critics, judges and fans I a nobody watched from afar Parchment white mocking my [...]

The children spun in a circle as the sun cast an eerie glow. Singing… Corona, Corona, She will soon own yuh; You will soon die and enter that pie in the sky. Then they burst into fits of laughter at their morbid joke. It had been over a year since [...]

I came to the garden deep within the hills I came to the garden and felt peace be still I walked on the pathway enjoying the breeze Wrapping myself in the wonder of the trees I came to the garden And finally felt free I came to the garden and [...]

There is a guard standing outside my Ivory Tower, rifle in hand but no bullets to use. There is a guard standing outside my Ivory Tower, yet, poison drips onto my lips as reality threatens to ensue. There is a guard standing outside my Ivory Tower, standing tall in ebony [...]

Before Corona I was living the glamourous life Partying from dust to dawn Not a care in the World Just thinking about me, myself and I Then without warning, Bam! Corona, appeared Life style changed Couldn’t do a task Without wearing a mask Everywhere I went long lines saluted me [...]

Flour on lacatan leaves. The image held little form in her cloudy mind as she stared through the small window on the ward. She was lucky to have a bed at the end of the pasty, bare room. Still, she began to question the serendipity when the rancid smell of [...]

The ghost of La Soufriere hovering in the air or drifting down like duppy dust on us.

A flashing flashing flashing flashing flashing light shatters night’s ebony dome: five hundred strikes per minute. Multiply by sixty, equals total strikes approximately. Did the driver vacate his seat behind heaven’s wheel storm away leaving the strobe light speed on high? First time I’ve seen such a thing in my [...]

Earth retched and retched: A global heaving, emptying of guts into a barf bowl hastily chucked under chin just before the hurling. Bowl now a-brim with the swishing, sloshing, black-brown green of putridness. Bits of flotsam aswirl in the midst flail, floundering with human limbs — frantic essay at scaling [...]

A gathering of darkness. Wind shifts, lifts leaves; plastic bags like kites soar high above the ground. An approaching sound: like the thundering of a thousand horses hooves galloping galloping... Unrelenting, raindrops hammer housetops for miles and miles around... A jagged bolt of light shatters the night. A tree comes [...]

I awoke this morning With thoughts of change As I sought to Rearrange My thinking Of how today’s Insecurities can Cause me to be lost In a mirage of Tomorrow's Perplex, Confusion. I can feel my life's Seasons Changing Without reasons With the earth’s Renewal And refusal of surrender. Refusing [...]

Six feet apart social distance distancing my heart, this breath not breathing, this cough not sneezing, we're six feet apart locked down, on pause all matters of heart. We've got to restart six feet apart no touching, shaking of hands elbows to bounce keep far from palms we're staying six [...]

2021- a year of improvement A year of renewal A year of hope At least that’s what I thought it would be Little did I know that it would turn out to be a sequel that was the horror of 2020 It began the afternoon of New Year’s Eve When [...]

Those were the days of : Sweat-drenched shirts Solace in air-conditioning and soaks in the sea Nights of silent electric skies Spectacular fork and sheet lightning displays Growls of thunder in patchy parish downpours Apologetic sunset beauty Pretty pinky sunrises Daylight hours shifting, darker earlier evenings Beckoning tropical autumn Willing [...]

First there were not enough Seamstresses kept busy Choices in plain, dulled colours Not anticipating the demand and Will they even be needed In six months time? Slowly getting used to the feel The texture of fabric or paper on skin Fitted carefully over nose and mouth With snug elastic [...]

Eden is glitching, Illusions falling apart, Reality cracked... Locked down and masked up, On islands, isolated, Survival unsure... Will paradise fall? Foreign dollars are needed Who will pay the price?. White The lonely bear sits, His iceberg floats out to sea, The glacier crumbles Lockdown 2 journalling Day 1 Thoughts [...]

Eyes closed Eyes opened Staring Blinking Blinking rapidly Who's there Who's that Coming towards us Coming towards me I don’t understand This is NOT normal This is not MY normal I CAN’T BREATHE Hear me I NEED to breathe Oh I now understand I now see Faces Faces no longer [...]

The clock ticked above my head as I entered the living room.   “Check the pot on the stove for me, Akim,” Cythina called as her feet thudded down the hall.   The shower turned on and Cythina’s voice rang throughout the house. She sang bits and pieces of some [...]

Jelissa was tired; physically, emotionally, financially spent. During the past year, between covid and her non-existent love life, things just seemed to not be working out in her favor and the constant loneliness she felt, was getting to her. She wasn’t the most beautiful woman, didn’t even come close, but [...]