Politics or poli-tricks It's on everybody's lips Who's who on social media And who can deliver Those long-awaited general election promises That you only hear once every 5 years Like a stuck record On those sweet politicians' lips Shoddy road works, basic utilities, raging food prices All fall on deaf ears to be entertained with local poli-tricks And you never can tell when you're getting the short end of the stick It's only when you put the ‘x' Then you get vex Making you see that the fanatic support was all for naught Because you were sadly bought with empty big talk Warring sides boasting about manifestos and deliverables When corruption rages like a wild bush fire Eating up the small man taxpaying dollar Where has the money gone? Have everyone in a quandary To try and find out these Officials' level of squandering No beds in hospitals, no jobs for graduates Poor people suffering Whilst them Ministers rising Higher and higher up the income-earning ladder Forgetting who selected, supported and elected them The news headlines blaring about whose pockets filling And contracts awarding to family members and those paying top dollar A vicious never ending cycle with every term served More like service to themselves Can you tell me is this what a countryman deserves? Well from schooldays to now They teach me from 18 years of age to exercise my franchise But I get weary Watching and waiting for new cast members to emerge To take up a difference-making role From a bald head to a full hair of head to bald head again A continuous circle I see with little to no gain After years of yeoman service of nothing to show but pain

Like the gnawing of the starving mosquito on my sun parched chapped skin The pain in my head goes on and on The memories, oh the memories My childhood, my layoff, the sudden passing of Trudy the only thing that loved me and I sort of devotedly loved back...if I could understand what love was With my experience of the mangy neighbour's mutt who begged for scraps next to the dilapidated children's home Which was my penitentiary for 15 years before it spat me out and left me dry like Neighbour Chinee's clean laundry on a hot school vacation day Maybe I am not built for that ‘love' capacity because everyone I meet is just like this Trini weather Dry, hazy and never around when you need a lil filling up when under the weather Oh the memories…my desertion...my desolation like a second skin I hatefully wear Nobody knows how it is to be invisible in a sea of people Imagine me in Port of Spain, the grandest city in Trinidad but nobody knows who I am I was once one of those dapper and dandy office workers churning out projects even before deadlines Awards and accolades heaped upon me and brightly decorating my spaces Government ministers lining up to shake my hand...now look where I am!! Look where that put me...a big NOBODY! This invisibility cloaks and haunts me daily A cardboard box, carton of cigarettes, stale bread wrapped in a torn paper towel and a creased photo of my Trudy are my fixed assets My mental capacity as an accountant still thrives on despite the despondency COVID...you have treated me so badly…taken from me over and over...a stumble, a fall, a wreck and then DEATH Oh the pain...those painful memories of losing my Trudy to your wrathful vengeance COVID The downward spiral as the hurt and pain bled over and over…a wound that could never heal…only to be satisfied with some numbing cocaine That's my fix...oh it does wonders! The quiet psychedelic escapade from this harsh reality and my everlasting companion in this wretched weather I have to laugh at life yes...the karmic circle of smirking at the vagrant sleeping on that hard chipped concrete Oh God my overbearing countenance, my luck, my life, my joy all wiped out in a swoop Look at me now...fighting for turf in that same place…that same business stoop Rain or sunshine it's all the same...just me, my cigarette and a lil cocaine watching the days go out and in again and again How much can one endure when your best friend and confidante just shakes his head in dread when your eyes meet With a small change thrown by my feet making it like it's a treat You know you could have stopped and talked...yet all you do is tip your chin up and walk Past me...past my new deodorant that has that nose of yours tingling...eau de Street...the new perfume of my life Bath time a luxury I can no longer afford until this wretched rain falls These darn mosquitoes keep buzzing in my ear the only companions to venture near My bloodshot eyes tell voluminous tales If one could ever look past this dreary shadow that is me A brother in arms, best friend, husband and lover are all labels I would contentedly wear if I could have a life do-over Never say never But now in this harsh reality all I can be is a wretched, despondent, invisible street-dweller

The skin I am in Layers of depth from fathoms of life experience Like delicate layers of that sweet puff pastry you crave When peeled back unveils a savoury, salty or sweet treat It all depends on where we psychologically meet There is no end with a timeless merge of skin, spirit and soul Shaped by pain, love, lust, loss and gain This vortex an upward or downward spiral Thick slices or thin slivers of emotion brought to the fray Emotion that reverberates past mental and physical barriers In a beautiful or devastating dish array It all depends on my and your appetite The gentle assuage of a delicate palette Creates a hunger that surpasses all other Unveiling the sweetness within Like honey dewed nectar Making me a great actor On this stage, the dish of my life best served hot or cold Tepid never mattered Revenge may be sweet But regret bitter Life's choices fall away like discarded peels Hmmm…my use measured by cunning chefs who wear diverse hats Where, to question their skill makes them go for the kill Chop, chop, chop is all you've got The proverbial end, the blade mercilessly attacks Never to return to the same when all you've got left is yourself to blame in a nameless life game

Oh lordie, is that season again in sweet Trinidad Mango Season that is And if you ever grew up here You know what adventures and mischief ah Trini could get up to when they have mango bazodee If you ain't have a mango tree in your yard then you is no official Trini Back in the day is Starch, Julie, Calabash, Doudouce, Rose, Turpentine, Spice, Cutlass My mouth watering just imagining Every neighbour sharing and dem village piper thieving Just for a lil mango The intoxicating scents that mango season brings Is swift competition with birds and bees You can hear the hearty laughs and cheers when the neighbourhood kids are successful in ‘licking down' some mangoes With stones, rods and climbing agility Escape is futile when hungry The only quarrels is when your friend turn greedy Ah buss toe, bee sting and a bucket full of ripe mangoes All give way to a great story with add-ons and antics The best way to relay spending school vacay To see the skyrocketing cost of mangoes today Makes me feel somewhat sad to say A heap of starch for twenty dollars Man, what an insult to my intelligence when I know is force-ripe thing you selling ‘The weather changing up thing' the vendor saying Who vex loss But at the end of the day give ah fair share for ah fair price nah We know mango is a privilege to have now in all this construction progress Where mango trees are less and less Gone are the days of penny for one I does be scrunting when this season come Always grateful to friends, family and coworkers My happy dance a testimony to the mango giddiness that overcomes me This succulent fruit that is imprinted in my DNA Ripe or half-ripe I am an easy pleaser Chow, fruit bowls, smoothies and pancakes Never tasted so good at this juncture So when I tell you I cyah wait for ah Trini mango season Now you know what I mean and my reason

Shrivelled up inside Feeling worthless You ever think a six-year-old should feel like that Just because they couldn't add 2 plus 4 in math? Over the years your words pummel my tiny mind Invisible claws digging deep Leaving gaping wounds of insecurity Your face says it all That crease in your forehead foretells of the coming ‘licks' My eyes dart in panic to the dining room chair Where your favourite leather strap hangs carelessly Just waiting to attack mercilessly and make my skin black Why can't you see that I'm giving it my all? The unending comparisons with my sister's aptitude Makes me want to hold my head and bawl Her perfect scores drive me up the wall Oh the wall, where I distractedly watch a lizard crawl ‘Whap!' My scream, a sob, a bawl Let that leather strap sing Cause that's the thing My copybook page dotted with the watery evidence of my failure My leaky eyes and snotty nose run like a free flowing river Why don't you know I'm trying my best? Oh the stress! Is you, is me, is the leather strap under duress Grannie in the corner watching with eyes gleaming Liking the way that the strap falling Mummy working..oh I miss she No one knows my pain Except God, but then again.. He doh answer No matter dey say He hear My cries, my six-year-old pain Have me thinking to run away On days like this where bliss is a definite miss They say is for my own good But my lost voice breaks my heart Somedays I plot my master escape in my head To sneak from my bed and just fled Lying in the dark, no meal because I didn't answer correctly Math ain't my forte Don't they see I just want to play? The neighbourhood kids screaming for fun and games Me always at my desk Studies more important..the adults say But wait eh Someday when I am grown I will have my say Because no one better lay a finger on my chile This mummy will be a tiger Who wants things better And the power I hold Will definitely be told And the mountains my kid will climb Would be so better than mine For it all starts and stops with me No generational curses and lame-o excuses But the truth that to be better, You must conquer that pain Unlocking and understanding are the key My mummy and daddy didn't know better But these books I reading and these TV programs I seeing Got my brain cells electrifying Change is in me I hold the power! Its up to me..let ME determine my FUTURE!