Mangrove
by Andrene Bonner  
 
Then the slapping became less predictable, 
as alcohol and weed coalesce inside his veins,
 
within his shack adorned with symbolic spirituality;
he—to pimp a sister with his anti-Babylon rhetoric.
 
Thus darkness of night delays the daybreak
and there was nowhere safe for her to hide

but for the loaded pistol that kept a constant vigil
on the tear drenched pillows beneath her head.
 
A stark reminder that divine love
no longer lived between those threads
 
of cotton sheets that once blazed with
youthful passions on this paradise island.
 
For to leave would kill the memories
of stories sculpted by bare footprints

on white sand beaches, under majestic mountains,
protected by coconut trees and laughing water lilies;

and days of grinding to the hypnotic sounds of Reggae music
and bass drums that induced the libido to violence.
 
For he too had crossed over on the dark side of death,
where tyrants refute the black woman’s immortality.
 

A Woman of Power and Vigilance

 
A woman of power and vigilance, so strong and
mighty Oh! The admiration I hold for her is too strong, too sweet
and too profound for me to even put in words
She’s the type that’s inured to the criticisms of society
  
and the pharisaical backstabbers who only smile in her 
face to try to get close to her heart. 
She is a go getter, a fighter a woman who stands up for her rights
and Uh. Yeah she knows how to play the game
 
It’s like everyday she’s living that sweet
sixteen Her confidence level is spiked up to an infinite number, 
but I guess that’s okay because numbers are unending anyway
Man, she got spunk! Girl knows how to make an entrance, I’ll say.

When she moves you got to either get out of the way or strut to  
the walk like how she does. Her charisma is unexplainable; it’s
popping in sporadic proportions. Oh, she got that hypnotic flow; 
her moves seem slow but if you blink you won’t see her go,
 
cause she’s a woman of action. She can’t stand still, the mind 
she holds never rests within. Ooh ooh I got one--Drama Queen
and we love her for it. If you know her you’d see and comprehend

that the way she seems is really who she is. She can’t live the
life of a charlatan. Her theatrics won’t allow her to. She might end
up talking on herself because honestly—honesty is her best policy.
And you can’t blame her. She’s a wonderful mother to any child who gives

her permission to hold them in her arms, and boy if you’ve been there you’d have known how gracious it felt. Yes, she’s unique and a bit eccentric 
at times but she’s still one of the most respectable and  most talented woman out there you’ll ever meet in this lifetime or the one to come about.

---Georgiienne Edie, Poets Orators Writers Artist Society Member