This Here Identity

I am from 11 Ritchie Street

Ste. Madeleine, West Indies, Trinbago

Red front steps

Curry chicken and dhal porie roti

 

I am from mosquito nets, Milo, Ovaltine, Klim

Shark & bake, Maracas Beach

 

I am from beaches, trees that

Reach the sky

Coconut trees & liming

Soca & calypso

 

I am from a place  where people smile

Where people greet, where people

Enjoy life…life…life…

Enjoy life…

 

I am from sugar cane plantations

Mixed heritages of British, French, Dutch, Spanish

African

Workers, hard workers

Ancestors working hard

Sweat mixed with blood

Mixed with tears

Lashes after lashes after lashes

Stripped identities

Destroyed families

Cultures eradicated, erased,

Forgotten…

 

I am from educated people

People working, always searching

For more…

 

Wisdom, knowledge…more…

Truth…more

High knowledge

Higher learning

Searching for more life

For more life

More life…