WINNING POEMS - AGE 12-19 CATEGORY

MOST OUTSTANDING YOUNG POET:
MARIELLA RIVAS (Age 16)

MARIELLA’S WINNING POEM:

GOING BEYOND

Ma would always tell me
’Bout when her grandpapa was young,
’Bout how he was hauled over the horizon
Into the twilight;
Into the treacherous depths of trials and misery,
Like a seedling dug out of the fertile ground,
Or an embryo snatched from the womb,
Forcefully.

Ma would always proclaim with reverence
That Great Grandpapa was shackled,
Sailing foreign waters for months galore,
And only ’cause of his endurance,
He put his African foot on foreign shore,
Set his African eyes on foreign sunrise,
Expectantly.

Ma would always preach with pride
How her grandpapa slaved for countless years
On the white man’s plantation;
How he sacrificed both blood and tears
As oft as he was beaten;

And Ma would also impale me with
Talk ’bout how African veins stretched with relief
On the eve of emancipation;
How, after prolonged eons of gloom and grief,
Liberty was coming with the golden, now-familiar sunrise,
And Great Grandpapa was,
Eagerly,
Going beyond with the breaking dawn
To restart life…

Going beyond,
To restart as that seedling, blossoming
Out of the soils of patience;
Going beyond,
To restart as that unfinished embryo,
And be reincarnated,
Out of the womb of diligence.

Copyright © 2009 by Mariella Rivas


2ND PLACE WINNER : AFIA LYNCH (Age 17)

AFIA’S WINNING POEM:

HER INNER VOICE

Alone…
alone again,
alone again in that room,
space.
That place where a life was stolen.
Pilfered inconspicuously right out of the owner’s hand,
by just a man.
He was just a man
and now she resurfaces from that unfathomably
deep body of water
but her breaths become no better
because for her
this is the end…
But let’s not pretend that she is not real,
that this is not real,
that her predicament can be hidden by
roughly torn ads of smiling,
beautiful faces cause
of all the places she could be,
she finds herself here
Alone,
Alone again
Alone again in that room
Space
That place where she lost everything.

So, she sits
Sits and waits to die
To die is to end the pain
The pain inflicted upon her every time one of her best friends
Glances in her direction
Cause she’s an infection that must be done away with
And it all comes down to that night
No light could bright,
That dark
That night
In which she let everything go,
In which she thought she really did know
the true meaning of love…
But her blood is now tainted with thick clots of deceit
And every time them brown eyes meet
The mirror
Her self-esteem takes a blow
But she didn’t know
God, if she did only know
She would have slipped on that shield and armour to protect
Herself from such pain which she was awarded
Without the gain
This is not a game,
This is her life…

The words, speared ruthlessly by a knife sodden
in treachery,
died in the air
“I love you.”
They danced gracefully among the other’s elite
“I trust you.”
They swam in the atmosphere, mixed with the molecules
And diffused its way to every woman who had
Uttered these very same words to that man
That ‘only a man’
Was not only a man
On his back he bore luggage
Heavy and burdensome.
His twisted mind, ripping at the weakest point
Revenge…
He yearns for revenge.
Twenty down,
The whole female population of Trinidad
to go.
His white, placid skin tells lies
Five years old,
Money in he pocket cah buy the thing he need the most
A cure,
Not for aids but for love.
But thank you for the greater being up above
Cause only He can see pass that charming smile.
Everything only lasts for a while.
At the end of the day, he still finds himself alone
Alone again,
Alone again in that time,
Space,
That place where a life was stolen
Where his hopes and dreams are forever rotting,
Just like his insides.

People,
To know is not to discriminate.
To discriminate and to know is to just plain hate
Cause how can we have faith in ourselves when we lack for one another?
Better think quick cause your mother might just be the other
Victim…She might just be Alone
Alone again
Alone again in that
Space
That time
That place
Where a life was stolen
Lymph now glands swollen
Weight loss so sudden
Skin rash as persistent as her negative thoughts
And she feels so lost cause inside of her body lives the reminder
Of why she shouldn’t trust
Why she must
hide herself from the rest of the world
Cause this girl’s heart was crush so long ago and now
this mutating virus is playing Russian roulette
With her
immune system
And her family and co-workers only come as close as
Their ignorant mentality will let them

But Today she sees hope in the sky that
Seemed so dim long ago
She know she needs support so
She seeks it from the almighty.
He, and only he could help she overcome
And she, by God’s grace, shall overcome
We, shall overcome. Together!

Copyright © 2009 by Afia Lynch



3rd PLACE WINNER: MARESA Mc DOWELL (Age 19)

MARESA’S WINNING POEM:

THERE’S A BROWN GIRL IN THE RING

There’s a brown girl in the ring Tra la la la
There’s a brown girl in the ring Tra la la la la la
There’s a brown girl in the ring Tra la la la
And she looks like a sugar and ah plum

So step-daddy walks in her room and says
Brown girl show me ya motion
What motion daddy?
The motion that you was gettin’ on with for kiddies carnival on Sunday
When mommy tell ya wine to de ground baby
Wine fuh mommy and you break away and get on dutty
Is time to wine for step daddy now

Six year old sugar plum robbed of her sweetness
Force-ripe sugar plum overcomed by her weakness
Betrayed by the hands of ah lady friend she calls mother
Cause no matter how many times she tries to tell mammy these horror stories she refuses to believe her
Cause that’s all they are
Stories, fables and lies
You better wake up my child
Cause I not leaving this man for you

This man whose better than ya no good father will ever be
This man who breaks his back to provide for us and adorns me in jewelry
This man!
This man who loves you..stop talking blaspheme
This man is ya new beloved daddy, this man is ya family

You are the sugar dumpling darling doo doo daughter he never had and always wanted
He gives you all the toys you desire so why are such accusation frequently mounted
Child he’s the best thing that ever happened to you so doh be ah fool
Doh mess this up he pays for ya education, with out him you won’t be going to such ah nice school

School! School?
School – The place where she can’t play clap clap games without being reminded
Cause “ one to ya partner two to ya friend,
Up and Down we go again
Sing asha, asha asha, asha asha asha Boom”
And she shakes
Shake
Shakes her head to get the memory out of what daddy had her shake last night
Shakes in class as miss patrols with the rod of correction
Shakes for the lickin she gonna get for not doing homework
Well at least miss homework cause daddy had her complete homework of his own
But this truth was never known
So in school she shakes

School- the place where she has pain understanding maths
But she understands the mathematics of pain
Cause as far as she sees it
The more time added to her life the more pain multiplies
The more she tries to fix the problem
The more mom can’t divide the truth from the lies
So she believes she must be zero
Cause you can’t take away nothing from that
So doh worry too try an help her, her pain ya can’t subtract
Well at least with out getting some negativity
Hm she remembers the day she made the mistake a tell teacher her story
Only the be hit with reality
That the justice system doh run as smoothly, as a game of
Police Judge Whipper and Thief
She ended up the one being whipped.. Dad got way stealing,
Guess money makes ya a Chief


As she runs across the school yard she’s wishing someone will
Catch and rescue her from this situation
Scoosh her misery away
Double-dotch her into a new dimension
Hop scotch away into happiness
Just wanting someone
Someone
Just someone to pitch this beautiful marble out of this terrible ring
And as she gets older she find him
He knocks her silly in a adolescent game of love
Only to be disappointed as he places his once worthy prize back into the ring
So other player can get ah knock at her too
She’s become Ms Promiscuous
All the stories they talk about her is true
She’s ah soft headed clothes pin just add a lil pressure
And secure ya leisure
She’s the object of lust
She’s the object of pleasure

Lessons daddy taught is now making her a celebrity
What she learned at home surely did spread abroad to the classroom, maxi taxi and cellphones of school’s society
There’s a brown girl in the ring and she’s fed-up of hula hoping
Fed-up of swaying her hips
Fed-up of the cycle
Fed-up of insulting lip
Stop asking her to show me ya motion
Let’s do something to get her out

Copyright © 2009 by Maresa McDowell