Three Poems

The True, True Mudda Sally.  Illustration Copyright © 2023 by Akaila Armstrong.

 

Love in the Time of Circular Chants 

Chant A Psalm A Day… Chant A Psalm A Day…
Chant A Psalm A Day…
An undulating Steel Pulse hosanna

That’s how a Chewa man— 
his ebony courting hands, soft-pressing 
vinyl onto record player, evoked 
a bell and bass reggae of rejoicing 

Ghosts of Petticoats (A Dramatic Monologue)

 

IN 1816 Nanny Grigg and a group of other women, alongside Bussa in Barbados, took up arms to fight for their freedom. On 14-16 April, 1816, Bussa led the largest uprising for freedom by enslaved people in Barbadian history. Although not much is known about Nanny it is reported that she was valued at 130.00 pounds and worked on Simmons Plantation. Nanny was able to read and write and told her fellow slaves that they had to fight for their freedom. 

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The 2023 IndyList

 

WELCOME to the 2023 ArtsEtc Independence Reading List.  This is the twelfth edition (already!) of our annual list of Barbadian literature to acquaint yourself with over the next twelve months.   

From the Archives: Word (on teaching a forty-year-old man to read)

 

He trusted me to break the word, crack
each segment open until the mystery expired.
Not so this morning.  He stared bewildered
at the board, the back at me.  “I never t’ought
dat word could be so small.  F…i…x,”
he mused.  “Dis word so small.”

How could his daily toil of hammer,
saw and nails; an old lady’s reckoning
of last month’s window
against the patching of a roof this week—
how could her life of sacrifice
and his of labour, sweat and boiling sun
be totalled up in this small word?

Last Saturday Night

 

 

Chorus

Saturday night, it was Saturday night

Saturday night, last Saturday night

 

VS 1

Down through de alley playing piece o’ romey

Risking my coppers at a boy salary

Cards hard can’t win a lil trally

Gamble out muh grandmother light bill money

Brek like a bottle muh pocket empty

Would like to check a fete but aint had no currency

So I slide Clyde home to granny old house

Then remember she does sell she lil pudding and souse

A Review of Shabine and Other Stories

HAZEL SIMMONS-MCDONALD is a Saint Lucian who has lived and worked in Barbados for over thirty years. She is Professor Emerita of Applied Linguistics at the University of the West Indies and has published textbooks on language learning as well as several articles on educational issues in Creole and Creole-influenced vernacular contexts.  Although in retirement, she continues to do research in this field and also devotes time to creative writing.  

An Excerpt from The Fall of Autumn Leaves

 

Chapter Seven
 
Cameron leaned back, reading the last sentence.  He smiled and then immediately frowned.  Looking around the apartment with its four rickety chairs and Formica-covered table, he wondered where all that effort expended in becoming a success had gone.  He had grasped the brass ring, and in America, had clambered up the greasy pole.  All he had needed was a wide pair of shoulders on which to stand.  He had found two. That thought brought his mind around to his cousin Fran. 

Ronald A. Williams 2021 Frank Collymore Literary Award Winner

2021 Frank Collymore Literary Award winner Ronald A. Williams.  Photo Copyright © 2022 by Ronald A. Williams.
 
 
Reprinted from centralbank.org.bb. Ronald Williams is the Top Entrant in the 24th Frank Collymore Literary Endowment Competition > Central Bank of Barbados > News
 
RONALD A. WILLIAMS emerged as the top entrant in the 24th Frank Collymore Literary Endowment (FCLE) Competition. This was announced during a scaled-down in-person awards ceremony at Frank Collymore Hall.

21 Quick Facts about Bajan Lit

 

1. The Frank Collymore Literary Award, launched in 1998, is the most lucrative writing prize in Barbados, with the top “Colly” winner receiving BDS$10,000.00 (US$5,000.00).

2. The National Independence Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA) Literary Competition produced its first Winning Words anthology of medal-winning entries in 1999.

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