... upon receiving a piece of the Berlin Wall
How wonderful, this piece of Jericho -
a testimony that concrete crumbles,
and regardless of how high
Goliath towers over us
yet surely shall he stumble.
- Kei Miller
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Bolt to di worl'
Litening Bolt dem tink yuh track career tun ash
Wen splinta katch up eena yuh fut from di car crash
Yuh wah si dem contendas haffi tek back dem chat
Dung a Berlin wen yuh blaze up di track
Litening Bolt yuh shatta di 100 and 200 meter record
Yuh mek WADA a wonda if yuh draw bad caad
Litening Bolt yuh badda dan yaws
Fah yuh mash up Tyson Gay plan, now im caan get fi palav
Now a im haffi tek back chat
Fah yuh almose mek im get haat attack
Him neva know yuh hab so much run
Wen him si yuh a stretch wey in frunt an him laka bubble gum
Litening Bolt yuh hab dem a wanda
If yuh is more dan a superhuman
9.58 and 19.19 Litening Bolt... fi di 100 an di 200 metre run
Shatta di 100 and 200 meter record at yuh bess
Now yuh a di fastest man di worl couda eva possess
Fah no adda hotleet caan put yuh Litening Bolt to the tess
So galang Usain, galang galang
Di Amerikan atleets caal yuh "Insane Bolt"
But wi kno is jus becaws dem jolt
Dung a Beijing yuh go an yuh do yuh ting
Eena Berlin ebryone now a call yuh King
So galang Litening Bolt galang
Fah dem caan squeeze di Lion paw
All mi kno is dat yuh an di adda hotleets dem
Mek Jahmayka luk bigga pon di worl map
Litening Bolt yuh jus hot so
tan rite a di front a di pack
An gi di ole a dem adda contendas heart attack
Galang Litening Bolt galang
Fah yuh a one man show mi know dem caan flap!
- Veronica Smith-Warren
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What does a girl know about love?
They've taught her how to miss someone,
She by dying
He by coming and going and coming
She was unrelenting in showering her affection
He punctuates her emotions with palpable pauses
When eventide approached she told her that she lived for her
Daily she dies for him
She showed her that she was her caregiver
He cares for her and she for him
She was tenacity
He is spontaneity
She cheered her on; she was her greatest fan
With him nothing is left undone
She listened to her woes
He tickles her toes
She was love in disappointment, pain and grief
He loves her to love herself
She was her mother
He is her lover
- Debbie Harris
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Ego she go
Ego, she go, we all a go,
See who run tings,
Mangoes refuse to go to market
No cricket playing pass the picket line,
Farmers sending apples this week
Any fruit sells on market day.
My camp, your camp, boot camp
Nobody going camping,
We want to run, you cannot run
Everybody running around the track.
Local player, foreign players
World cup dream
Gold cup reality, ego, she go up at Malvern
Programme derailed, dollars have sense.
Ego she go in the sporting arena
Whether on the field or in the room
Highest quality of performance
Ego she go at their best.
- Ken Gee
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Still in chains
Independence, Emancipation
Freedom to be entirely Jamaican
Painted black, a nation proud
Songs of slavery, racial superiority
No longer whispered but shouted loud
Finally free
Individuality
Yet inconspicuous the effects of slavery
Still entrenched in minds so impressionable
Still in chains, still in coffle
White supremacy, in minds still reign
With hair dyed blond and skin bleached pale
Still enslaved, still submissive
Still clutching at the straw they give
Take 'the look', exchanged for our pride
Unclear is the beauty of the darkened sky
Littered with bright stars Obama and Garvey
Lighting the way for the upcoming century
Unfortunately.
We're still in pain our consciousness cries
Stop the lies, stop the lies!
Freedom is miles from black confidence stable
Sadly,
Still we're in chains, still we're in coffle.
- LaTanya Brown