From Whence the Guns

 

From whence the guns

That spill the life blood

Of the many youths of our country

In our neighbourhood?

 

Why such a mystery

Guarded with hushed tone

Spreading death across the land

From zone to zone?

 

How did we get here

Given the lot o’ talk

Mouthed by the elected authority

But lacking the walk?

 

Are there untouchables

That cannot be touched

Or are English speaking politicians

Talking Dutch?

 

 

From whence the guns

And via whom I ask,

Is the attempt to thwart police

An assigned task?

 

Is “If you see something

Say something”

To be taken seriously

Or is it just another saying?

 

Is it to make the vulnerable

Even more vulnerable

And get the same said vulnerable

Into more trouble?

 

And when I see something

And then say something,

Are those charged with doing something

Going to do anything?

 

 

I have become a skeptic

And I will tell you why:

That there is little being done

I cannot deny.

 

Many be the barking dogs

Which are chained

That are repeating the same bark

Again, and again!

 

Somebody has to know

From whence come the guns

And I don’t mean who import them-

Please don’t make fun.

 

 

Who will spot the light

On the source of this crime

And follow the advice of a calypso

About where to shine?

 

From whence the guns?

Come they not from somewhere

Or else, tell me my dear Watson,

How would they get here?

 

And by whom the guns?

Come they not by someone

Or can you tell me my dear Watson,

Are the importers gone?

 

Gone from here abouts

That they cannot be found

Or are our investigators made to look

Like bungling clowns?

 

Hats off to each calypsonian

Who, with social commentary,

Was not afraid to speak to the ills

In this country.

 

Will the authorities

Now take the lead from them

And most assiduously and fearlessly

Deal with the gun problem?

 

 

And don’t dare mention tint

Or intercepting people’s calls,

For this is a horribly failed attempt

To make fools of us all.

 

Stewart Russell © August 10, 2025

 

Mia, the One-Eyed King

 

 

All but she be blind,

None else can see

Barbados floundering in sargassum

In the briny sea.

 

In the land of the blind

She is the one-eyed king,

No wonder her brain-washed followers

Daily her praises sing.

 

Punching above her weight

Once applied to Bim

Now all roads lead to Mia Amor

Our female one-eyed king.

 

Naught but she can see

The reason for the tint,

She with her narrow one-eyed vision

Perceives a criminal link.

 

 

And like that Emperor

Who ventured to expose,

She daily exposes Bim’s nakedness

In her newly-styled clothes.

 

Give the police a chance

To see who is at the wheel

Of the get-away car being driven,

Is the PM’s appeal.

 

Be it in the day or night

Sight should be facilitated,

Remove or reduce the heavy tint

And crime will be negated.

 

 

The blind won’t ever see this

But a one-eyed king can

And surely, to my way of thinking,

This is Mia’s plan.

 

I can’t fault her for this

Seeing that I am also blind

And while I disagreed in the past

I must agree this time.

 

Which is better, pray tell

Between one-eyed or blind?

Even the blind will vote everyday

For the one-eyed kind.

 

 

 

A thorn in the eye

Not quite what Gabby sang,

Will at least leave that single eye

To see the snake’s fang.

 

Mia is not totally blind

But surely the rest of us are,

Like the support staff of her domain

None of us sees very far.

 

With such a loss of vision

Hopefully we would hear

But the propaganda wax in this canal

Makes us hearing impaired.

 

The tint that impairs seeing

And the wool over our eyes

Have surely blocked out the truths

We constantly deny.

 

It surely appears to me

Both one-eyed and the blind

Must accept the blame for our State

Being in such a bind.

 

 

Our sight has deteriorated

Thus, our reliance on one eye,

And that one eye is becoming dim

Though this we also deny.

 

The PM has lost her way,

With none to bring us back,

Though she has vision in a single eye

The others, total vision lack.

 

She is still the king

In this very blind land

Where a thorn can do nothing more

Than prick the PM’s hand.

 

Stewart Russell © June 4, 2025

 

Oh Wow!

 

 

How this year has flown!

Three quarters now complete

And into the third we go

Even as we speak.

 

October is now upon us,

It’s crept up almost unnoticed

And most of our elaborate plans

Must now be dismissed.

 

Definitely so for me

As these days I’m a little slow,

Not that young anymore

With little get up and go.

 

Often can’t be bothered

Or the funds won’t stretch,

I am living off a pension now

And still in debt.

 

Debt to certain companies

Like BWA and BLPC,

And there is Digicel and FLOW

Plus a few luxuries.

 

There is procrastination:

That perennial thief of time

Where several things to be done

Gets done only in my mind.

 

Good intentions, of course,

Never gets anything done

But these days I prefer to walk

Since it is difficult to run.

 

 

Oh Wow!  How time flies

And how this year has flown!

And finances previously sound

Are now down to the bone.

 

Into the Christmas quarter,

Oh, how I love this time,

The money is not like it used to be

But I am feeling quite fine.

 

October, it’s all over!

That’s what it used to be,

But storms have still knocked us

In recent history.

 

It’s been a mix year so far

Already three quarters in

And many smiles have been replaced

By the expected grin.

 

Growth has taken place

But little development I see,

Fortune is still favouring the rich

And the poor, poverty.

 

Much talk about nothing

Deflecting the real issues:

The ploy of double-speak leaders

Making us more confused.

 

 

The guns are coming in

But so too is the tint

Complicating the problem bigtime,

Making citizens flinch.

 

If only we could see

The driver behind that wheel

The solution to the gun crimes

Would be a done deal.

 

Something tells me though,

The faces are well known

But the swiftness deceives the eye

Just like the year has flown.

 

I end just as I began

Re how this year has flown,

And I pray that the authorities act

On what I believe is known.

 

 

 

It’s a wow moment

And so, I say, “Oh wow!”

Leaders, stop the lot of long talk

And get to the source now!

 

Stewart Russell © September 28, 2024