Image taken from the web
Today images of Montserrat’s Agricultural exhibition held at the Groves Botanical Station came fully and movingly to life. Prae se ferre is latin for Exhibition.
March modern oxen
Trailing tracks that tractors now trek
Welcome the exhibition
Bulls midnight mating
Calf’s coming showcased
Needle craft, handy craft
Artistic highlights
Knitted stole, Sea Island cotton, crotchet
Colors dance
We grin
Products capture nature
Reminds use of schools of blue fish
Water currents and green mountain tops
Juicy tomatoes candy red
Preserved and mixed in tasty dishes
Large catch caught, process, prepared
Jumping jacks, Mahi Mahi, Wahoo
Prize winning Fisherman – a proud moment captivated
The hearty laugh of seasons
Slogan – Support local production reduce importation
Groves Botanical
Cost minimal
Participation honorable
Display trees, judge fields
Eyes examine baskets
Heaps of fruits vegetables, flowers
Farmer’s crops come together
The rhythms of our hard work
The results of our labor
The Collected outcome of what the earth birth
Potatoes, breadfruits, shaddocks
A pumpkin that two men lift
Collins Ghaut Mountain, far mountain, Farrell’s yard
Joseph’s coat pales to the mix
Of peals of cakes and pastries
Fruit drinks prepared
Scent of goat water intoxicates
We sip from paper cups
We swing to sounds of singers
Twirl to incessant drum beats
Surrounded by livestock and candy
Pigs, fowls, sheep, donkey
Sugar cake, ginger sticks, guava cheese
Garden groves grow
Children intermingle
Fresh from school buses eager to see
The new, the familiar, the delicious
Ice cream thoughts command
Melodious smiles
We look at the results
Categories contain scores
A half day, a whole day of
Selective Agricultural best
We all win the prize of a festive atmosphere
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Poem Written by Brenda L. McCartney
Pencil Master Inc. - Zee Kentish
Steady as he goes
Taking flight
Under the Western sun
- followed streams to open shores
His fleet of intentions sailed the Carib sea
Re-written expressions
Expressive shifts
Meanings vivid
Torque moments
The elusiveness of his time
Unsettling blots
Under the spindly evergreen
And tempest of waves
A master of his craft
-
Full tilt
He would not be brought to his knees
- except to pray
The surf of his dialect reverberates
The confluence of his passions
His temperament lit by the heat of the sun
Chants for poor people – the function of his life
Cast iron convictions
Throwing out many nets
“Studiation beats education” -
Now illuminated at sunset in the January sea
An old fighter welded to his island
The Union Jack flown at half mast
Now his hull laid bare
Our Statesman John – a Montserrat Citizen
At sunset he stands on solid ground
-
Poem Written by Brenda L. McCartney
Honey suckle drips
On billowing yellow-iris-print
Yellow Begonia’s blossom
In the gold dust of midday’s splendor
-
Poem written by Brenda L. McCartney
Photograph taken from Island of Montserrat
It is not long into the new year and Montserrat has lost two icons; Mr. John Osborne and Mr. Noel ‘Dada’ Tuitt. We have begun to memorialize, celebrate and mourn these two well known political leaders. Mr. John Osborne, one of our former chief Minister’s of Montserrat died after serving some thirty eight years in Montserrat’s legislature. Well, exactly a week and a day after his passing Mr. Noel ‘Dada’ Tuitt, a former colleague who served with him as Minister of Agriculture then passed away. They both ran and won their seats for the People Liberation Movement (PLM).
I have been listening intently to ZJB (Radio Montserrat) and reading what I can from various sources, as many are reflecting on their lives. Hearing and reading what others have to say about them makes me remember being in Montserrat when they were alive. Even now, I can just imagine myself in Montserrat sitting on a ‘white wall’ with my foot swinging as people from the village congregate to share the news and talk about these national figures. One of the things they would probably say with amusement is “John Osborne knock Mr. Tuitt wicket clean.” In other words, due to the proximity of their deaths, Montserratians would say that: “John Osborne can bowl” or “he bowled Mr. Tuitt clean out.” This saying “bowl out” originates from cricket. In the Caribbean to say that cricket is a sport would be an understatement. Cricket is a way of life and a way of viewing life. We love cricket, so naturally we would express ourselves in cricket terms and use cricket terms as metaphors. So in this instance life is likened to a game of cricket, where we finish the innings. The way it is expressed the last person who died would be like a bowler to take someone else out.
In the Bahamas (where I live now) they say people go (die) in three’s. Meaning three people who people associate with one another usually die together. Somehow the number three is associated with completion. Three strikes, three bases in a game but maybe I’m just speculating as to how this saying started.
One thing is clear, language is moving, powerful and it is shaped by the reality of everyday experiences. This fact has created the many different cultures, dialects, pidgins and languages that have existed throughout the years. The words and phrases that I have encountered make me also think of the colorful ways that we express ourselves as Caribbean people. Mr. Richard Allsopp stated, and I paraphrase, that in the Caribbean we have a powerfully operative vocabulary with notable linguistic similarities and other lexical differences. He further mentions that it is powerful because it includes many elements in idioms, adjectives and verbs. It has been noted that this is in part due to colonization of some of the islands or the change in national ownership (e.g. English and French) or differences in settlements (e.g. Irish, Danish, Scottish). Words or phrases from time to time have varied meanings.
In using our Caribbean dialect, patois, it is necessary to document exactly what we mean, if we want others and history itself to interpret our words clearly. In fact there has been a move towards a Caribbean lexicography, with resolutions passed as far back as 1967. Evidence of documenting terms used locally in Montserrat was highlighted in a song by Soca King Arrow “Montserrat English’ and also in the book “Alliouagana Folk” (1973) by Dr. George Irish. Along these lines it would be good to have many publications documenting the way we speak. This especially means more Caribbean dictionaries and Caribbean English books.
For now, we will continue to speak and write our minds referencing the safe, comfortable and familiar knowing that our expressions, like lives of great men will one day be fragments of a great Caribbean history.
What are some of the terms used in your culture to describe loss?
Junkanoo in The Bahamas
On the first anniversary of one of history’s worst natural disasters, Haiti despair is still felt. “The earthquake drew a remarkable emergency response from the international community. It also prompted ambitious plans to reconstruct, even reinvent, the hemisphere’s poorest nation – to “build it back better.” Two-thirds of the 1.5 million Haitians left homeless by the quake still live in tents, and fewer than half the 45,000 t-shelters that the U.N. and other housing organizations had hoped to build by now have been erected.” There is a need to do more and the children of Haiti remains hopeful. “But the recovery process really hasn’t begun yet.” To add to their woes the people of Haiti have to deal with a recent cholera epidemic.
Today I pray for all souls (volunteers, leaders, the wealthy, dying) especially the poor, the hungry the unemployed all victims of persecution, injustice and discrimination of any kind.
Photograhed by Momiji
Sunlight streams
Leaf peeping
Orange tints
Bare boughs, bald moments
The sap of life
Remembered beginnings
Opened secrets
A mystery wrapped in an enigma
Winter’s solace
Kind peace in solstice’s afterglow
Liberty in eternal beauty
-
Written by Brenda L. McCartney
Photographed by ANDREW BIRAJ
Today many Western churches remember the dead. The names of deceased family or friends are presented in church for prayers. Someone who is reading this right now maybe gobsmacked, others who have heard of it before and do not subscribe to these rituals may discount or simply dismiss these practices.
At one time or another all of us have lost someone we once cherished and put our trust in and thinking about them does evoke some response in our hearts as multitude of memories no doubt flow. Even my three year old daughter sometimes sits down and expressed her disbelief that her grandpa is not coming back, perhaps it has something do to with it is coming up on the anniversary of his death. Sometimes still when she achieves anything she wishes he was around to share in the experience.
Recently I too have been thinking about my deceased maternal grandfather (Papa) and him kneading the bread for my grandmother to bake and how he would ensure I get hot bread out of the oven with salted butter. I think of paternal grandfather (Dada) sitting outside the house with a cap on the landing beating a pound cake for my grandmother to bake. I can now taste the cakes, using a mixer could not provide such a smooth batter as he did in kneading the cakes with all the love in the world.
In the spice island of Grenada in the Caribbean today it is a tradition for islanders to a gather their family and visit the graveyards placing lit candles on the graves as they honour to share moments of remembrance. This is a tradition that goes across many cultures and religions. Celebrations in other parts of the world include; some people wear ing masks, carrying signs, or erecting elaborate decorations to honour the dead.
According to the Columbia Encyclopedia “Some community centres invite people to commemorate their deceased loved ones with ofrendas (offerings) through alters that include food, symbols, flowers, candles, photos and other mementos. Altars in memory of the dead are also made in people’s homes.”
Whether there is scepticism or out right denial about the validity of the concept of All Souls Day; as we recall the memories of our love ones collectively today, the one thing that we all share in common is that we honour their lives that they once shared with us.
Roots with steady dedication
Furnished mind with education
Crafted ideals rumbled with a fight
Sonorous voice indomitable might
Unmoved by ignorance
Unscathed by belligerence
Unapologetically he tilled our cultural landscape
Believed in youth formation, elucidation
Vision – horizon
With unparalleled passion he farmed our paths
Formed our past
His life trajectory testifies
To unity – community
Low-key, unassuming
Fair and balanced
The Y’s have it
The wise habits
To be resilient, determined, professional
…to “be prepared”
Commissioner, leader, teacher, preacher, lay reader
As he rose from the ash of time
… Now he rests
Where solemn becomes sacred
Where land ends and sea begins
He once turns boldly at the emerald sun –
A son illuminated
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Poem Written by Brenda L. McCartney
Today the Government and People of Montserrat say farewell to Mr. Joseph Henry Meade a former Speaker of The House, School Teacher and Trade Unionists in Montserrat,
“Mr. Joseph Meade served his country with distinction and his foresight in national development is evidenced by him being a founding member of the Montserrat Teachers Union (MUT). He also cemented the inclusion of our young people in national discussions with the founding of the National Youth Parliament during his tenure as Speaker of the Legislative Council from 2001 to 2009. As Speaker, Mr. Meade provided good stewardship at a time when the island was challenged in the aftermath of an erupting volcano. Beyond parliament, his life’s work was a demonstration of commitment of service-to-people above self and we hope that his legacy lives on.”
Montserrat has lost one of its most revered cultural figures, a teacher, scout leader, trade unionist, steward, critic and mentor. He has left a void in our world that will be a challenge to fill.
Photographed by Alissa Stella Maris
Pounding almonds on pathways
Elemental desires
Rough tides lapping
Bicycle rides
Line fishing
Swimming smiles
Echoes off concave ledges
Birds flies disperse
Sequined colors on flawless teal
Can not tell –
the beach to be quiet
even seagulls to stop talking
Sea grapes groves and almond trees -
team around rocks
Energy thunder through
Sun kissed pleasures broken shells
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Poem Written by Brenda L. McCartney
Photographed by Susan Koster
Stilted comprehension
Sheltered in misty reflections
The humming through veins
Melted wild
Words trailed
Banquet of amusing chirps
Chimes in wind beaten fronds
Downward bent coconut shafts
Feather-like blessings thrill
Peak through crispy green extensions…
Enter stalks of lavender
Cold splash of hypnotic blue eyes
Almond tear drops
Blooms of soft crimson rose
Defiant passion
Sapphire thoughts
Shinning rusty shards
Among milky amber streams
Willed a rising blinding flash
The penetrating silence
As new seagrape leaves
Besotted blind beauty
His promise
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Poem Written by Brenda L. McCartney
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