Ah Swallow me Tonsil

 So daddy wake me brothers ah early morning

All the “Rise and Shine” couldn’t stop the turning

With the dew and the coldness, their mouths were push

At the thought of walking through all the bush

By evening time dem had a change in mood

So dey look fi mango, orange and other food

As the sun get hot, daddy send them home

But that was the time they choose to roam

Up and down Missa Bayee land

Dey run and jump to touch the banana hand

Dem know for sure if Missa Bayee did see

He wudda curse and shout and complain to mammie

Yet just for fun Jacob pretend

Look Missa Bayee ah come around the bend

He tek off with one piece ah lightning speed

Sure that Rufus wud follow his lead

Like a road runner he head down di track

Him neva even see the banana tie-back

De piece ah string give him one clothesline,

He fall so hard, nearly bruk him spine

Yet Jacob hold he throat with fear on him face

No longer concern about winning the race

Me brother run to him full up ah fright

Cause Jacob seem ready to read his last rite

Rufus hear a weak croak, when he try fi counsel,

“Call daddy, tell him me swallow me tonsil.”

Rufus eyes light up, there were laughs galore

Him belly starting hurting, he cudn’t tek it no more

This was no joke for Jacob at the time

He was still in shock, thinking he gwine dead in e prime

But this didn’t stop Rufus who was now on the ground rolling

He cudn’t wait to reach home and tell arwe everything

If anything, is me mammie ah blame

If this was public me brother wudder shame

If yo touch up yo tonsil, she put it in we head,

It go fly down we throat and kill arwe dead

For years to come we still laugh at de joke

Even at times imitating Jacob croak

But even though we all find dis story so funny

It just goes to show the influence of yo mammie

Ah how me grow up

Today me ah hear bout Dragon ballz and peekachu

Nintendo, Play station and xbox too

Apart from that social media in control

Everybody behaving like outside cold

Who na have facebook, Ah tweet and hashtag

Others online buying puss in a bag

D pickney dem kno much about technological device

Concern with brand and quality, but hardly the price

It cause me to reflect on the old time days

Dolly house, pitching marble and paper boat race

Down by the river, we spend a lot time

Catching crayfish, lobsters or simply jus lyme

Na talk 'bout the evening when moon ah shine

Ah then we happy, its games or story time

Hide and seek in grassroots was the sweetest game

But ah the jumbie stories, shhhh na call dem name

Ah often wonder if it was cause we poor

No TV in the house, nothing to allure

Even when rain ah come we still outside

Down the muddy hill, we tek turns to slide

None ah we obese, which is a complain nowadays

Nutritionist ah now encourage outside games

So put down the gadgets, ley we play outdoors

Come see if u nah go enjoy yourself more

Copyright (C) 2014

Please leave a comment. If you have a critical eye for poem, a constructive criticism will be appreciated. You can also suggest a suitable title for this poem. For my international readers, the poem is a mixture of English and the Vincentian Creole. 

Two Jack ah Lantans?

 So daddy tell we a story one moonlit night

About a period in life when there was no street light

Two men travelling from opposite directions

They couldn’t see their hands, they were dark in complexion

Briskly they walked, along the long winding road,

No fear for the crickets, the owl or the toad,

But when their head connect and they saw something flash,

They didn’t stop to wonder or see with what they clash,

For they both heard the stories about the Jack ah lantan

That travel at night to suck blood from human,

They didn’t wear no skin, and had eyes like fire,

So no need to halt; who would stop to enquire?

So off they sped in the direction from which they came,

They will sleep at a rum shop with no pain and no shame,

For this situation has left others dead

Not with some bruises and simply a bump on their heads

The next day will come, they would let others know,

About the Jack ah lantan that travel the streets of Mespo,

But what are the chances, said one man to another,

That these men stories are so similar to each other?

Could it be that they were both very drunk?

And the flash appeared from when their heads clunk?

Though reasoning was sound, convinced were the men,

It must be two jack ah lantans, we nar walk that road again

Gun Shooting Reinvented

Me na dead, me na dead

My cousin Jack often cried

The bullet na catch me,

‘Cause behind the tree I hide

The shooter was angry as he tried to explain

I see you clear, clear, clear

You move from the tree into the plain

But the issue remained impossible to resolve

With no proof of wound, who can say

Who was right or wrong

So up came an idea into another’s head

Let’s reinvent the game, let’s use green banana instead

No more pow pow pow with sticks call guns

We will sail a banana and knock you down

Truth be told, it was more about the ouch and pain

If you get hit by the banana, who can complain?

For sure yo will dead now, Jack the shooter express

Ah go mek sure the banana stain left pon’ yo chess

So the new gun shooting start with a bang

Every man line up with green bananas in their hand

It was game for the athletic and those with no fright

Banana ah sail to the left and to the right

Murder oye, you hear a man shout

Everybody know say Johnny Brown out

Jack was grinning, ah kill um dead

Ah bet he na say, he na dead he na dead

Others laughed though they hid behind trees

Gun shooting reinvented, was a done deal,

A game that continued till the last man stand

With a grin on his face and a green banana in his hand