By Mel Cooke, Freelance WriterWESTERN BUREAU:
IT WAS a matter of the words being literally written in stone at Weekenz Bar and Bistro on Saturday night.
Stoneman from Trench Town started off the proceedings with a display of the natural rock formations he has collected, using them to illustrate his message. Hence, when he advised the youths to "put down the gun", he took up a stone which looked very much like the weapon. "I have to dive 150 feet to recover this piece," Stoneman said.
He took up another and said "this is all about September 11", indicating that the infamous date was written into the stone naturally and his palm carried the numeral 9.
"For I as Rasta, is de World Slave Centre get lick," he said.
He went on to blow a tune through another rock, saying "is all about the abeng".
Stoneman was first up on a night when art and poetry were combined at the Constant Spring Road, St. Andrew, cultural spot. With art by Colin F, Khalil Deane, Ebony and Adam Rourke dotting the venue, new and veteran voices took to the microphone. Dawn McGregor-Bromfield, who had entered the poetry contest at Weekenz earlier in the year; Starman; who lived and performed in Australia for a decade; Ghinsu, whose terrific lines often contained a history lesson all in themselves; and Chandis from the P... P... Posse were the main readers for the night.
In addition, violinist Mark Stephenson, who accompanied Chandis, played one number which went over very well.
Ghinsu used a cordless microphone, decent delivery, good poetry and excellent knowledge of world affairs in starting out with Enemy of The State, saying:
I am a secret agent
Waiting to assassinate
All who want to rise up and say they are great
Say they will rise up and dominate...
He continued with New World Order, which asserted that the plan is to "kill off all the nigger and the Jewish babies/then start over with blond blue-eyed ladies...
"It was immigrants who built the Promised Land," the poem continued.
He ended with a poem based on the Russian Revolution, but with words that applied to all such upheavals, declaring:
Revolutions come
Revolutions go
Do things change?
I really don't know
On the outside it may seem so
But on the inside is the same old show...
Dawn McGregor-Bromfield was the only poet on Tuesday night to take up Connie Bell's challenge of relating the words to the art pieces, starting out with Education in Jamaica, which she related to a painting that depicted students' faces. She continued with The Corridor, about life, Heart Touch on friendship and ended with the semi-erotic Taste.
Starman, whose books Planet One Drop and Two Faces of a Bag Poet are available over the Internet, showed a hint of what is in store on his two CDs with Black Woman, a theme he would continue on. He then moved on to a poem about unity and the cessation of strife, after which Mutabaruka played a tune by Starman called Jamaican Heroes.
After the stage movement of Ghinsu, Chandis sat front and centre in a chair and allowed her words, with Mark Stephenson playing along well for emphasis, to speak for themselves. She started with Ghetto Fabulous, then went into Rest In Peace, which tackled the very uncomfortable issue of incest:
Rice and peas
Chicken stew
Daughter screwed
While sleeping dogs
Could not scream at what they witnessed...
She followed up with Me, a poem of self-love which said in part "sometimes my fingers never seem long enough to find where I end" and concluded that "I am woman, the better half of myself".
She should have ended with Coming Home, but the people wanted more, so she gave them Truth. At her departure, Mark Stephenson shifted gears from supporting musician to lead performer, playing with bow and body to bring the guest performers segment of Tuesday's poetry offering at Weekenz Bistro and Bar to an end.
