Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer
KELVIN THOMAS and Neva Die brought two different styles of poetry to RedBones the Blues Café, Braemar Avenue, New Kingston, on Wednesday night.
While Thomas spoke at some length between his poems, Neva Die tended to run his highly rhythmic pieces into each other, at times hardly giving the small audience - most of whom seemed to have come for steaks rather than stanzas - space to show their appreciation.
In addition, while Thomas allowed his voice to carry most of the expression, Neva Die used his hands extensively as well as swaying to the rhythm of his own words as he closed the February edition of the café's 'Evening of Contemporary Literature'.
INCREASED TEMPO
"This is about being real ... not only when it affects us, but also when it affects others," Thomas said before doing 'Show Me Your Eyes', which asked, "where were your eyes when my people were being terrorised?" 'The Voice of The Awakened' made a query of Thomas' own people, "asking my brothers and sisters, where is your dignity/are you afraid of your African ancestry?". He increased the tempo after saying "I am the voice of the awakened and this is my story ..." Thomas honoured Mandela as My Hero, ending with a hand in the air as he said, "There is no easy walk to freedom". He came back home and dipped into Jamaican language for Jamaican Labrish, during which there was laughter when Thomas said "de country corrup' so till/who corrup' a pass anti-corruption bill".
'REVOLUTIONARY DUB POET'
Neva Die said he was a "revolutionary dub poet" and began on a patriotic note with "Jamaica a me yard, Jamaica a me lan'/Nah run whe, yasso me tan/Big up Reggae Boyz an' Jodi-Ann/We no fraid fe talk, Spelling Bee champion". And there were giggles when he spoke of "big bumper girls cotch off pon bike".
It was the first of many poems in which Neva Die utilised a refrain, bouncing on the balls of both feet, rod in outstretched left hand as he detailed the possessions of the 'bigger heads' in the society while "poor people belly bang, like goat kid". He gave the other side of the coin of opulence with Hungry, more laughter coming when he said "like Mike Tyson hungry a bite me".
Neva Die went into hurricane history in leading up to 'Hurricane Ivan' and honoured mothers ("guide her Lord, with thy han'/from the robber an the tief an de hooligan") before going into a Lotto winning fantasy ("dem sey Butch Stewart rich, him no have money yet/when him want a loan a me him check".)
And Neva Die went back to colonial matters in his summing up, declaring "Columbus count as zero".
