Ishvara

Oh God,

Oh Mother oi!

Father, papi, pita

Mother, mami, mam

My boo

Honey you

Brothers and sisters

My sons and daughters

 

(Listen to me)

 

The truth of this world is polarity

I’s a man need a woman next to me

And I need a man, to walk hand in hand

Whether brothers or sisters

Lovers, sons or daughters

We come from the same source

Of Infinity

 

Is time you see

 

Is not your will but Mine be done

Take a good look around

At your lost daughters and sons

See in them the reflection

Of the Divine person

You ought to become

 

And just surrender….surrender to that love

True love, (the one that come from the Power above)

Doh beat on yourself! Embrace yourself!

Forgive and don’t forget

The place that eh heal yet

 

Sing Om, Shanti, Om,

Shanti, shanti, om.

 

 

The truth of this world is diversity

Created to bring infinite possibilities

And no doctorate, Could ever explain

The incessant evolution

The rainbow variation

The surprising harmony

Making us the same

 

Isn’t plain enough to see 

 

Is not your will but mine be done

Take a good look around

At your lost daughters and sons

See in them the reflection

Of the Divine person

You ought to be

 

And just surrender….surrender to that love

True love, (the one that come from the Power above)

Doh beat on yourself! Embrace yourself!

Forgive and don’t forget

The place that eh heal yet

 

Sing Om, Shanti, Om,

Shanti, shanti, om.

 

 

The truth of this world is a mystery

It have so many things we yet to see

So don’t underestimate, your ignorance

False pride hafta humble

Or progress will tumble 

Into a cesspit

Of pure tyranny  

 

Please try to see

Is not your will but Mine be done

Take a good look around

At your lost daughters and sons

See in them the reflection

Of the Divine person

You truly can be

 

And just surrender….surrender to that love

True love, the one that come from the Power above

Doh beat on yourself! Embrace yourself!

Forgive and don’t forget

The place that eh heal yet

 

Sing Om, Shanti, Om,

Shanti, shanti, om.

 

Love, love one another

Forgive, forgive each-other

We all wounded from this war

Remember what we fighting for

Don’t forget those shot down

Rise their spirit from de ground

Sing for those who eh make it through

Sing louder for those with faith renewed

To love another day

Think of them and say…

 

Sing Om, Shanti, Om,

Shanti, shanti, om.

Shanti, shanti, om. 

Sing Om, Shanti Ishvara

Shanti, shanti, om.

Shanti Shanti Ishvara

Shanti, shanti om.

 

© Jessica Joseph 2012

Sun, Sea & Rape

Two of her sisters get rape

By the same uncle

Who try to feel she up too

But her mout too big

And it scare the pig

Two policemen hold a boy

An autistic boy

And bugger him bloody

In the same community

As she family

The young fellas there

Does interfere

With they little sisters

And brothers too

Neighbors just shoo shoo

The men cyah handle strong women

Dey insecure cock

Does shrivel up

When it meet strength

And intelligence

So dey looking for lambs

For a wam bam

And nobody gives a damn

Nobody make a jail yet

But karma doh forget

One hundred and sixty thou

That is the population

Yet is daily harassment, rape and molestation

So how much sickos on this island

With the Simply beautiful tourist slogan

This place beginning to feel like Sodom

Where it had not even ten good men

You can’t tell rapist from friend

When things this bad

Is only one way it will end

A purge coming soon

To make Tomas look like a light rain

Only the Pitons will remain

They will cry for shame

But it will be in vain

© Jessica Joseph 2012

Forgiveness

My father, ever the pessimist once tell meh
Before you turn thirty
I guarantee you dis
Someone you know when you was both young
Will get prematurely knock dong
By the hand of Death
And it won’t be long
Till yuh start thinking
Who next?
Who next?
An if is me who next
Could I truly respect
The life I beget?
The choices I made?
Was I afraid
To do the right thing
When I needed to?

I think the moment for you
Daddy was when my friend Reema
Daddy Keith had a heart attack
I heard you crying like a child
In the bathroom
Who next?
Who next?
An if is me who next
Could I truly respect
The life I beget?
The choices I made?
Was I afraid
To do the right thing
When I needed to?

Now Daddy I is you
Cause my school-friend older sister dead
Gun -shot to the head
And is me, myself and I in a fight
Could I truly respect
The life I beget?
The choices I made?
Am I still afraid
To do the right thing
When I need to?

An just like you
I crying like a child too
Except instead of the bathroom
My bed, cross-legged
Eyes red, nose snatty, crocodile tears
But I have no pre-teen daughter
To secretly cry for me
Like I did for you
Even though I was too young to know why
The answers to those questions frighten you
But tonight It finally hit me
A feeling of solidarity
With you Daddy
That night
When it was you, yourself and you in a fight.
And this is forgiveness
And wanting to be forgiven

Unleash Yourself!- National Carnival Bands Association's 2012 Anthem

Chant- Unleash Yourself!
Free yourself! (repeat)
 
You only have one life to live- So live it!
You have so much love to give- So give it!
So much beauty in de world- Embrace it!
Let your colours unfurl- Display it!
 
After two thousand and twelve too late shall be the cry
Of all those who never free the party animal inside
Doh keep it chain up, scratching to come outside
You must join the greatest show on earth before you die!
 

Unleash Yourself- Go brave and break away
Unleash Yourself- Party like is yuh last day
Unleash Yourself!- No matter yuh black or white
Unleash Yourself- No matter yuh size or type
Unleash Yourself- Doh hold nottin back, give me all
Unleash Yourself- Be loud, be slack, have a ball
Unleash Yourself- No excuses and no regrets
Unleash Yourself- Carnival 2012 you eh see nottin yet!

All our love- We go unleash it
All our joy- We go unleash it
All our energy- We go unleash it
Come and see – We unleash it!

written by Jessica Joseph

Let Them Down Easy

Let Them Down Easy

When looking for a man
They say judge his inner worth
By how he treats the woman
Responsible for his birth
I was not looking
But you propositioned anyway
So I am forced to assess you, Rude bwoy
In the aforementioned way

Would your mother be proud to be
The one who birthed a boy who sucks and soots at me
And every pair of tits and ass you see
Will it warm her heart souljah boy
The way you treat women like toys
Buy, use, break, throw away
Is your dear mother truly proud
Of your utterances lewd and loud
That your brain is fogged by a cloud
Incapable of empathy
Barely penetrated by knowledge
Quick to anger but slow to quiet courage

You see, I have no time or energy to be a mother to you
And finish what she didn’t and what you didn’t care to do
Tell me, if I birthed you would my heart soar to call you son
Or would I secretly wish to be mother to another one
I am looking for someone who can be complement to me
A grown-up love with shared strength in our individuality
And by that measure, dear rude bwoy it is clear to see
I will have to let you down easy

When looking for a man
They say, judge his inner worth
By how he treats the woman
Responsible for his birth
I was not looking
But you propositioned anyway
So I am forced to assess you, Rastaman
In the aforementioned way

You call me your African Queen
But Mother Africa you have never seen
In Mama Oshun’s bliss you’ve never been
You speak of Jah and Israel’s twelve tribes
Nomadic children living out their lives
Unaware their Divine Mother survives
Despite all your ‘conscious’ sweet talk
For Mother Earth you don’t walk the walk
Because you do not even remember the Goddess
That your ancestors were forced to suppress
You are a derivative of Judeo-Christian dominionist
Still eager to exploit Her goodness

You only call me Queen so you can rule as my King
With aboslute entitlement to the gifts that I bring
If you knew that the feminine was equally Divine
You would not ask me to take a lower position at your side
I am looking for someone who can be complement to me
A grown-up love based on shared respect for our equality
So Rastaman, it is clear to see
I will have to let you down easy

Colonialized

Colonialised
Anesthasized
Programmed to stand on the side lines
And criticize
Before we try
Attempt to fly
We already fail
Excuse and bail
Ourselves out
We love to pout
Turn up we mout
At who brave to enough to shout
And put their foot in their mout
Unafraid if they’re whispered about
By coward louts

Colonialized
Paralyzed
Quick to bring people down to size
Cause we small
Cyah stand tall
Afraid to fall
Always against a wall
A prison for our mind
Ignorant and unkind
Desperate for a piece
Without inner peace
To settle the belly
So it always hungry
And easily upset
By what we cyah get
Eye big big still we cyah see
The demon inside we
Warping our beauty

We colonialized
Self-demonized
Bred to ostracize
Genius, talent, bravery
A seed of long term mental slavery
Is what the powers planted in we
Independent nations
Still surreptitiously supplanted
While population is distracted
Maljoing, macoing and mauvalanging
Scrambling for a place
Based on color or race
Family name and face
Instead of acumen
And every now and then
When a flower pushes through the cracks
We stomp it back cause we
Colonialised
Marginalized
Programmed to steups and roll up our eyes
And criticize

© Jessica Joseph

lately i disagree

Lately
It seems to me
We forgot how and why it’s important
To sometimes disagree

How did we
Become such fearful slaves
To uniformity
When and why
Did we buy the lie
It’s evil to express our individuality
That how I experience Divinity
Should be the cause of your insecurity
Unless it conforms to your religious philosophy
Absolutely
Yet you admit the universe still baffles you in its complexity

Lately
It seems to me
That we get so needlessly scared to be ourselves
Unless we have a majority
But why should the majority decide for me
Wasn't I the one sperm out of a billion swimming free
To choose the right tube inside of my mommy
The DNA in my eyeball is too unique
For you tell me how to see
I remember where my soul was before
So don’t tell me how to be

Lately
It seems to me
There is deliberate effort by those in authority
To ignore a truth, blatantly obvious for anyone who cares to see
Nature favours diversity!
In everything, colour, function and sexuality
Like it or not
What is truly unnatural is striving for total uniformity
And trying to dictate destiny
When freewill only works when it’s …free
Uncertainty
That is just the way it was meant to be
In order to fuel creativity
For eternity

© Jessica Joseph 2010.