No 27

I almost walked straight past you;
I wouldn’t have had a clue
I want to tell your story;
I don’t think you want me to
Discounted handsome,
apologetic maisonette
Standing amidst your peers
Boasting a creamy white mantle
Next to your brother in blue

I know what you’ve been through,
You didn’t always look so brand new
I looked into the double glazed, squared windows
Of your soul, and its true, memories of your
Rebellious convictions shine through
“Butter wouldn’t melt in your mouth”
attitude, to me you’re so see thru,
I’d be quiet, but you’re right in my field of view
Shall I tell you what I see when I look at you?
27 doesn’t describe your plight,
I still see a bruised sign, “The Black and White”
Your retentive consciousness still radiates thru
The compulsory purchase of your identity
Indelible printed images of militants uprising
Stick to me like glue

Boastful gold rings on brown defiant fingers
Steeped in economic dejection
Souls outside a mansion of refuge standing in a barrage
Of compulsion, housing friendly strangers lost in layers
of ethnic oppression

Inside I see ‘militant’ chefs serving my favourite
Curry Goat and Brown Stew,
The waft of warm patties,
Filling the room just like Granma’s used to
Cultural footmen enjoying the solace of exclusion idling
Away the day with arcade games and hyperactive
Pinball machines
Groups bonding around board’s games,
Reasoning, debating the maltreatment
Rastafarians chanting down Babylon
Shifting perceptions of injustice,
Over standing the system
Of their situation

Cards games in upper rooms
Gambling their spoils away
Serious, risk takers, enjoying banter with
their Bredrin until the early hours of the day.
Finding ‘solace’ in the safety of their abode
Babylon can’t come down these sides of road

I’ve seen what we all know
You said enough is enough, man’s dem
got serious, man’s dem got tough
Chains of transfixed beast men linked arm in arm
trying to contain the perceived threat.
Voices of subjection stand tall amidst flames
of rebellion burning high like a minaret
I know you weren’t innocent, but you’d say you
Had your back to a wall there was nowhere else
to go this time, you had to say no!
You see I know you, don’t think for one minute
I haven’t forgotten you or what you been thru
This isn’t the full story, I’ll tell you straight
Honestly some of your actions made me ashamed of you
It’s your audacity, the first uprising all it brought for us
which I choose to remember about you
Boastful uninhibited creamy white mantle
Next to your brother in blue… I know you