USA Translation To Jamaican
USA: It’s been a long time since I have seen you, girl.JA: Gal yuh noh dead yet? USA: Lord, we have lost electricity again!JA: Lawd Gad, current lack aff again to rahtid! USA: Where did you buy that awful bracelet, Cindy?JA: A weh yuh buy dat deh big ole ugly bangle deh, missus? USA: Hors […]
The Joys And Sorrows Of Life – Part II
After the tragedy of losing a member of the community to the sea, the beach usually becomes empty for the periods of mourning and sometimes beyond. However as persons begin to adjust to the loss; our life style eventually readjusts to it’s normal pattern. Soon, persons would be seen on the beach again as we […]
The Mahogany Tree
Under the big gray mahogany tree, I would rest my head in her lap. It was a ritual for me; to have my ears cleaned with a fowl feather, preferable the feather from a pullet. Grandma would strip the feather leaving only some on the tip. She would base it with her spit and gently […]
Grab Yu Lass An Come
A swarm of bees and wasps pollinate the guinep tree in the middle of the yard where Tarta is seated on the ground with his back leaned against it’s trunk, sharpening a cutlass. The unlit small portion of a spliff hangs from his lower lip at the left corner of his mouth as he glides […]
Memories Of Back A Yard – Part 1
A gentle wind sways the limb of a coconut tree against the window of the board house, where I lay in bed gazing through a missing pane at the moon lit sky. The chu-chu engine of a train passes along the railway track located about150 meters down the lane, sending a tremor all through the […]
Taken for Granted
I was born and raised partly in Jamaica. My childhood days were interesting. We were not rich people and sometimes it was difficult to make ends meet. My dad worked hard to support us, (mom was living abroad) and we hardly ever went hungry. I used to love attending primary school. My brother did not […]
Sleeping Dogs
Recently I was speaking to a friend who had gone through a humiliating experience and I have her permission to share it with you. Georgia had apparently accompanied her male companion to the doctor, after which they stopped off at the pharmacy to have the prescription filled. She was the one who got out of […]
Anancy And Bredda Lion
Bredda Lion had a new bad habit that he felt was his right an privilege, being the most feared in the village. He developed the biggest belch in the whole village. Every time he ate and went to sleep at night, he would belch really loud all night and wake up the rest of the […]
Love Of Food
My people love food really bad. I often wonder if our culture has an obsession with food. Almost everything in our culture is defined by food. There is some type of food to cure almost everything from impotence to arthritis. Babies must be fat and chubby or they look sick. Is true…memba when you see […]
The Christine Report "Adjusting"
I’m sitting here today wondering how things have changed so dramatically for me in the past 7 years. Back then, I would roll out of bed half an hour before class started on a warm day, or not at all if I could see that the weather was not conducive to waking up. Snuggled warm […]
