Haiku from the Headlines # 7

Life caught up with me and now I'm playing catch up with the blog! Here is Haiku from the Headlines #7 from the #poetrymonth edition. Recently in T&T there's been a lot of talk about former government minister Chandresh Sharma and his alleged physical assault against his ex-girlfriend. There seems to be a lot of emphasis on the fact that he committed adultery. No article to link cause there's just too many! Google "Sacha Singh Trinidad" LOL. 

Haiku on the Nation's focus on adulterous politicians 

If the wife had said, 

"I told her sleep with my husband." 

Would we still be mad? 

Smoke screen! Smoke signal! 

Sound the alarm! What about 

that head he busted? 

Societal Ills Are Rooted in SOCIETY!

politicians are not to be taken genuinely in most instances. they generally say whatever they feel voters want to hear. they sometimes make statements because they have to make statements and not because they care. still, its upsetting when politicians use politics to reinforce stereotypes and misguided solutions to societal ills. the latest example of this is a recent statement by justice minister herbert volney. as reported in the trinidad guardian:  

Minister of Justice Herbert Volney wants the police to rid the streets of vagrants, not “shake down young people for marijuana.” He made the comments in an interview at his Justice Ministry office, Tower C, Waterfront Complex, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain, yesterday.

if vagrancy is a crime it shouldn't be. and while vagrancy is a societal ill, it needs to be understood that societal ill is not solely a problem of the individual. it is a problem rooted in the society. high levels of vagrancy reflect on the society not the individual vagrant. it is the same manner in which mental illness (and consequently the way people who suffer from mental illness are treated) reflect on society, not the person who is ill. i mean who's "crazier": the man roaming the streets and shouting or the one who wants to beat up that man because he is? 

what measures are put in place to curb vagrancy? what are the stigmas associated with homelessness? does the general population have compassion for vagrants? or people with mental illness? i am constantly disappointed by the way i hear people discuss "mad people" and "lazy people" who live on the streets. 

furthermore, you know what is a greater societal ill than vagrancy minister volney? police brutality and corruption. the police do not need to rid the streets of vagrants. they need to rid the force of officers who do not abide by the law and who kill teenagers (criminal or non-criminal). 

i am troy davis

they are going to kill troy davis 

you can call georgia if you like 

(call where. call who.)

call them 

call the board 

call the DA 

call the white man 

or the black man 

they are going to kill troy davis 

the same way they arrested him 

and convicted him 

and ignored appeals 

and truth 

shit. they ignored reasonable doubt

they are going to kill troy davis 

the same way they expel us from their tribes 

and leave us out of the mainstream lives 

and history books 

we are not shit in the eye of the beholder 

we are not blind 

Interview Fridays: GA Gardner Talks Political/Non-Political Art

Elements of Hope, GA Gardner, 2008

This edition of Interview Fridays features the Trinidadian mixed-media artist, GA Gardner speaking about art and politics. 

Rekindling Lost Spirits: Just BE

In middle school I was not always the most fashionable kid. It might have had something to do with me being a little dorky or my then recent change of environments: what was hot in Trinidad was not in the States. Of course it also had to do with the politics of blackness and that was something I had not have fully gauged at that age. My hair was natural for most of my middle and high school careers.

 
Once in 7th grade my sister twisted and cork-screwed my hair (cork screw=bantu knot), then we unraveled them so I’d have curls. I loved the way it came out and I dressed up a little to fit the hairstyle. When I got to science, one of the girls in the class told me, “Somebody said you look like Medusa.” All I did was say ok, but my confidence was lost; not shattered but definitely cracked.