Yvonne's poem doubles as her Green Statement, doubles as a prayer...
Untitled
If the life-giving gullies of Barbados were to run blood
And Broad Street sank under the weight of sanguine waters
And there was no Bop or Baygon to blow up
either the mosquito or fill our lungs
- Fool: everyone knows a mosquito has no lungs
Would we then regret the casual discard
of plastic lipstick butts into empty cane fields?
Would we finally regard the butterflied lizards
children targeted in a game of Cowboys and Indians?
Would we remember the soft petals of the flamboyant trees
picked naked for vain pleasures?
Would we recount the flying fish fleeing our acid waters
recycle the soda pop bottles full of deadly dyes
raise our eyes to skies dropping in on us
and remember to pray for a world
of clean-running waters
pure coral reefs and fish
that look like our grandmother’s memories?
Copyright © 2011 by Yvonne Weekes
About the Author
Yvonne Weekes is an actress, writer/director, teacher, and currently the Theatre Arts Coordinator at Barbados Community College. Winner of the Frank Collymore Literary Award in 2004 for her memoir, Volcano, her first play, Blue Soap, was published in 2010. Her most recent work, Broken Dolls, aired on CBC in 2011. Yvonne is currently involved in writing and directing community drama pieces for the AIDS Foundation of Barbados, the Ministry of Health and the Barbados Government Information Service that deal with AIDS awareness, stigmatization and discrimination as well as other chronic non-communicable diseases.
Yvonne's appearance at GR11 on Saturday, June 18, bridges the literary and theatrical when she takes to the Folkestone stage with the Barbados Community College theatre group. (Green Readings is a trademark of ArtsEtc.)
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