Dem Old Time Things

 

I am not sure

Where I should start

But this implement was used

Mostly in the dark.

 

It’s not a searchlight,

Not by a long shot

But to my mind it looked like

An oversized teapot.

 

The reason for its name

I don’t really know

But I came along hearing

It was called a poe.

 

 

Why were some hats

Referred to as Panama?

For the answer to this one

Check your grandma.

 

 

And in this computer age

Hack is nothing new,

Back in the old-time days

It was used for the flu.

 

We had an outhouse,

Boy, wasn’t that the pits!

And when we saw that cock-lizard

It was time to quit.

 

 

There he was

On a yellow thing propped

And there was I

Urging my waste to drop.

 

Not good at all

If the wait was overly long,

At those uncompromising times

One was not too strong.

 

The community centre

Was the faithful standpipe,

Bringing of the water we hated

But the standpipe we liked.

 

 

It was the news point

And the gossip centre too

And there you could find out

What everybody knew.

 

Well, not really knew

But what “evuhbody” hear,

And while there was no telephone

Tell-a-woman was near.

 

Naked as I born

I bathed under a standpipe

But that was in St Andrew

Relatively out of sight.

 

Ba-lang! ba-lang! ba-lang!

Hear the school bell ring,

Wishing for a chance to ring it

Was my old-time thing.

 

 

That chance never came,

For I was never a prefect,

At least not at primary school

But still “nuff respect”.

 

Mr. Matthew Farley

Would have had a problem

For the length of girl’s uniforms

Was really not an item.

 

 

Some were very short

As this old-time photo shows

But then we didn’t know as much

As today’s children know.

 

No need to discuss this

And the matter of innocence,

I’m just having fun

No need to take offense.

 

Police commuted on horses

But a PM rode one too,

There is a photo showing this,

You can have a view.

 

  

I knew a race horse owner

A close friend of that PM,

Among the riders in that photo

He is likely one of them.

 

 

Here is also a photo

Of that PM cutting canes,

Kudos to those nation builders

Who did in heat and rain.

 

Old-time washing machines

Worked off elbow-grease,

Until those whites were lily white

Those elbows never ceased.

It was a woman’s chore

With tub and jooking-board

And since families were large

It was a heavy load.

 

 

Pan cart and box cart

Donkey-cart and bicycle,

All these means of moving loads

For a variety of people.

 

The coal-pot and wood-pile,

Blackened saucepans and pots:

The means of food preparation

For families and their lot.

 

 

When we got little better off

We cooked on a stove

And that same stove heated irons

To press our clothes.

 

Those were the days of cups:

Hiccups and enamel cups

 Or lesser, Ovaltine and Milo tots

If you couldn’t get a buck.

Enamel cups for everyone;

Sometimes battered and bruised,

Hot chocolate or cocoa tea

And a little salt infused.

 

Kadooment was better

As they wore more clothes,

Still conscious they were children

All along the roads.

 

10:00 AM at the Stadium

See the costume bands,

On the first Monday in July

People in the stand.

 

Waiting for the judges

To judge the costumes

And then to join the jump-up

Jostling for room.

 

Hearing the bands blaring

As the trucks pass,

Back in them old time days

There was more class.

 

 

Mr. Harding never died,

He came back every year,

Never mind how he was burnt

He always reappeared.

 

I am jumping around

As these things come to mind,

I will soon stop though,

Almost out of time.

 

Tray on top of head

With a container in the tray,

Faucet attached bearing mauby,

Mauby woman on her way.

 

 

See the one-pint glass

Mauby foaming to the brim,

So, expert was the mauby woman

Not a drop escaped the rim.

 

Hers is a balancing act;

Hands doing other jobs

And many glasses of refreshing mauby

Costing less than a bob.

 

This refreshing mauby

Now gone to my head,

I wouldn't mind having some now

With a Purity salt-bread.

Call the mauby woman

And call Purity

But you won't find that number

In the directory.

 

 

That's an old time thing too-

"No such number",

If you think of Elvis Presley

You might remember.

 

 

Yes, the old-time days

And the old-time things,

Bajan folk songs and calypsos

And the joy they still bring.

 

Stewart Russell © November 9, 2023

 

Our Prime Ministers

 

 

Prime Ministers of Barbados

Make an interesting list,

Beginning with PM Errol Barrow

It went like this.

1966-1976

Well, Barrow was the first

As afore stated

And he was the best ever PM

By a majority rated.

 

Free secondary education

And National Insurance Security

Were two major policies

Facilitating social mobility.

 

Father of Independence,

An appellation given to him

When on November 30th, 1966,

The Monarchy was trimmed.

 

England’s flag was lowered

And our national flag was raised

And to Prime Minister Barrow

Was given the praise.

 

 

1976 -1985

 

Next in line was PM Tom Adams,

The son of Sir Grantley,

Who built on Barrow’s foundation

Bringing more prosperity.

 

Barrow had two terms

With Tom Adams also two

Before Barrow took over again

And his endeavor renewed.

 

1986-1987

 

Tom Adams died in office

And so too did Errol Barrow

Bringing to the people of Barbados

Two occasions to sorrow.

 

Barbados was privileged

To have two of the best

In Prime Ministers Barrow and Adam

To be followed by the rest.

 

PM Bernard St. John was next

After Prime Minister Adams’ demise

But with Barrow’s renewed endeavor,

His efforts were brushed aside.

 

 

 

1985-1986

 

St. John, our first caretaker PM,

Was unable to sustain Adam’s momentum

And lost his seat to a virtual unknown

In the very next general election.

 

I986-1987

 

This saw Barrow at the helm again

But only into his second year,

The country was thrown into mourning

When he suddenly passed away.

 

Not as distinctive as PM’s 1 & 2

Was PM Erskine Sandiford’s tenure,

He took over from PM Errol Barrow

As caretaker Prime Minister.

 

 

1987-1994

 

He went on to win at the polls

In the general election of 1991

But before the five years were up,

He and the Dems were gone.

 

Losing a no-confidence motion,

PM Sandiford called a general election,

There ended his political career

Via the electorate’s rejection.

 

Next up was PM Owen Arthur:

He too had a long stint,

He served three consecutive terms

With a resolve like flint.

 

 

1994-2008

Arthur was immensely popular

And very down to earth,

Like Barrow he was a regionalist

Protecting the Caribbean turf.

 

Some described PM Arthur

As Barrow & Adams morphed into one

And with him at the helm

There was much national reform.

 

Unlike PM Barrow, he failed

To get a fourth bite at the cherry

But his were two very strong terms

And the third fell away gradually.

 

This opened the door for the PM

With a very unenviable run,

I refer to Prime Minister David Thompson

Whose tenure was so soon done.

 

 

2008-2010

Two years were assigned to him

And after that he was gone,

The shortest term for an elected PM

And PM Thompson was that one.

 

The third PM to die in office:

In October, 2010, he passed away,

And so too began the Dems’ demise

From that very day.

 

It signaled the fall of the Dems

As a competitive political party

For, though they won the next election,

It was the narrowest of majorities.

 

It was a 16 to 14 close call

That could have gone the other way

In a very close St Philip battle

That had saved the day.

 

 

 

And so, PM Freundel Stuart,

Who became our third caretaker PM,

Eked out a second term for the Dems

But this was fraught with problems.

 

2010-2018

 

Not least was his leadership,

Once refer to as the sleeping giant,

His Cabinet Ministers were in disarray

And few of them seemed compliant.

 

His tenure was the most unenviable

Culminating in the Dems’ worst defeat

When in that 2018 general election,

None of his candidates won a seat.

 

Mia Mottley’s BLP ran rampant

Taking all thirty available seats

Making her our first female PM

And she still is even as we speak.

 

 

2018-

 

This was not a one-off feat

As PM Mia Mottley did it again in 2022

Whereupon the Dems are wondering

If there is anything they can do.

 

One of PM Mottley’s achievements

Was during the COVID-19 pandemic,

Not afraid to take unpopular decisions

She used a brake and gas mix.

 

In her oft repeated words,

I know how to use brakes and gas,

At times she would yield a little

But pressed the brakes just as fast.

 

That Barbados is now a republic

Is an accomplishment of PM Mottley

And not only is she recognized locally

But regionally and internationally.

 

From PM Barrow to PM Adams,

From PM St. John to PM Sandiford,

The ship of state, at different rates,

Has been marching onward.

 

From PM Arthur to PM Thompson

From PM Stuart to PM Mottley;

A total of eight Prime Ministers thus far,

Crafting our country’s destiny.

 

We received sad news just yesterday

Of the passing of Prime Minister # 4,

As you would observe from my poem’s list,

This is PM Erskine Sandiford.

 

 

Only PM Stuart remains alive

Of all our former Prime Ministers,

The last before PM Erskine Sandiford,

Was PM Owen Arthur.

 

Condolences to Sir Lloyd's family

And all of his far-flung friends,

We thank God for him and all the rest

 And with that this poem ends.

 

Stewart Russell © June 27, 2023