Sonnets for Anthony Joseph

In Gaza or My Li'l House

By Linda M. Deane and Brian Franklin

Wuhloss! Lookuh dis life, how it does change
’tween joy and pain, peace and war, hate and love
Let me tell you what I am speaking of
No money and hunger got you derange
Asking wuh part my guardian angel
Is? Praying to Mary in the alcove
Nuff children at home, no gas in the stove
You and de no-good chile faddas estranged
When did life become so amputated?
Wuhloss! Lookuh, I wish I did a foreign—
Er. Like dem touriss swimming dem bodies
In de sea, not worried ’bout de warring
In Gaza or my li’l house, bloodied
By a hope that is lost and a heart weighted

Christmas Eve  

By Yvonne Weekes

Christmas Eve, mother spent time counting change,  
pennies stretched ‘cross bright rug, her latest love   
from Ridley market. Newspapers wrapped dove 
soap, curtains, fish, vests, in such calm derange.   
Tinsel sparkled on gold trinkets, white angel  
topped our tree which was placed in the alcove 
where a fireplace should be. Ham on the stove, 
we licked cake bowls. Distant father, estranged    
she laughed heartily, her heart amputated 
remembered fleetingly he went foreign  
land. Years later, we learnt of the bodies  
of women, and mother’s quiet warring 
during our Christmas glee, hands bloodied  
by years of scrubbing, heart-broken, weighted.