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Roi
Kwabena
Roi
Kwabena was born in the Republlc of Trinidad & Tobago
Caribbean in 1956.
He has several publications to his credit which has earned him
favourable response in the Caribbean, Africa and Europe,
where at the request of several governments, schools,
universities and cultural bodies he has lectured, performed
or conducted cultural workshops on the subject of cultural
diversity. He is a former Parliamentarian in his place of
birth and is currently preparing to participate In the
proposed Intemational Conference on the topic: REPARATIONS
FOR AFRIKANS
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Poems in this collection:
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A Job For the Hangman Text
Mind De Gap Text
Kush reclaimed Text
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A Job For the Hangman
... now take your responsibility seriously ...
hang with expediency
hang this legislation for its impropriety
hang the legacy of slavery an' indentureship
hang high the ruling parasitic oligarchy
hang until dead the injustice of being
incarcerated for two decades awaiting execution...
hang the plan to abolish the privy council
hang (sic) the plan to empower the sterile
legal vultures of these plantation economies....
hang the archaic state of prisons,
be it trinidad, jamaica, or grenada
hang quickly the temptation to ignore
amnesty international...
hang the truth up high that the issue
is not only the death penalty but human rights...
accept the reality that the causes of crime
must be addressed
for the homeless, poverty-stricken, naked an' hungry
cannot be overlooked...
hang the inability to protect the fishing industry...
execute immediately the notion of nationals
(whether trini or guyanese)
have the right to pollute the orinoco delta
with their drug an' gun runnin' activity,,,
hang until dead this system of neo-colonialism
... now take your responsibility seriously
then we can begin to discuss
NATIONAL UNITY...
Mind De Gap
mind gap - mind gap, mind de' gap
but stand clear of the doors - pleases here...
where we huddle, scuffle - shove, squeeze an' bustle ...
like rats or mice - captive - doomed as vermins TRANSPORTATION...TRANSPORTATION...
home run...home run...work...run...play. .. run...
underground -underground tube stations
no longer bomb shelters
we are as fools-captive in caves
smelling-sweaty-hurry moles in holes
away from home...mind de gap
they as always, nearly feel sorry for
delaying your ordeal.......
meanwhile these floodgates could wall
us within
as sacrifice. for Baal...
mind the gap... the shit filled gap
there're several floors ahead of us
cause we are deep beloooow
their clogged streets...this dogshit on
my seat.....
ten levels below the Kings Cross
crossed up - all-ah we crossed up
under saint pancri-ass
the damned earth ....wretched floor...
staring in faces of strangers
don't even nod hello for
hell is where we are...deep beloooow..
this train can stop at any time...
crash any time - power failure
regardless of race, nationality or birth-
place...
ticket... inflation. we are entombed.
entertained by punks... drunks an' fools-
some creatively inclined
strained music in these cold corridors...
underfed by vending machines...
yes! no toilets...
while foreign slogans stain my mind...
the local NF grafitti points me out as a nigger...
and reminds the paki to go home...even though
them born ya...
we inhale the stench...
stand clear of the doors pleases...but no
so climb the littered
lines of fusion with much confusion...
piccadilly...circle...eastern...bakerloo,
victorian
through the slimy thames of
recycled water to drink from the sewer...
deep within the dark tracks...the mind fonders...
the ads attack the minds...
the two headed beast upkeeping their media...
...the protector...
the lion...the unicorn...
the explotation of the oxygen...an' electricity
the brookstreet slave... the working girl...
have a drink of fine irish barley brew
as they suffer..subliminal seduction...
don't pay the fare...ending up paying the extras
or the fine of skanking over the barrier
dont assault the guard...your journey can end
up in hell... at H.W.S. (her whoring services)
mind the gap...
stand clear of the doors please....
or feel the squeeze.....
KUSH RECLAIMED
TA-NUHUSI
mastered TA-MERRY
and manifested as TA-SETI
NAPATA . . . MEROE . . . NUBIA . . .
ALODIA . . . MUQURRA . . . FUNJ . . .
now SUDAN . . . Afrika ! !
to the source
NUBALLA - ALKEBULAN
from islands . . . mountain tops of ATLANTIS
we came again
in search of lucid vision
to reconquer . . .
as always we soul travel . . .
KUSH . . . KUSH
i reclaim you . . .
knowing of mighty warriors humbled . . .
even in rome troy an' assyria
from the british german and french grave-bandits
custodians of museums abroad
the lost stolen legacy
of pristine ages . . .
origin ?
computers - re-lies
in automated rep-lies
from humbled abode -
make shift concrete dwellings
exiled moorish ancestry . . . near granada
off the coast of Incas mainland
in this CARIB 'HAS' BEEN
was this an arranged appointment . . .
cosmic or otherwise ? ?
yea, this incarnation reveals . . .
O ! who was, is, always will be . . .
so Kush i reborn
reclaim you . . . ruled by SHANADAKHETE
from coveting anthropologists . . . and archaeologists
legal scientific plunderers
who pilfer our worth . . .
our knowledge .. . our heritage
can we explore . . .
study at ease the life of
- james, henry, joan, victoria, pious,
napoleon, leo, sophia or richard
enter their graves and retrieve .. .
KUSH . . . KUSH
i reclaim you
from the lying intoxicated
intellectuals
coverers that stole you
disfigured you after raping you . . .
these ruins shall be renewed
as PIANKHI
points west . . .
to these mere rocks
GAZIRA CARIBEE
fe AMERIKA LATINA . . .
where new flags flutter
as knowledge increases . . .
right knowledge of my SOURCE
EL RA-A
Kush reclaimed as
Phut
domain of the gods and goddesses
AMON-RA,MUT and KHENSU - ourancestors ...