Patois Thursdays.

Original: Trench Town Shock
By: Valerie Bloom

Waia, Miss May, trouble dey yah,
Ban yuh belly, Missis, do.
Mi Ha' one terrible piece o' news
An mi sarry fi sey it consarn yuh.

Yuh know yuh secon' or t'ird cousin?
Yuh great-aunt Edith Fred?
Im pick up imse'f gawn a pickcha show,
An police shoot im dead.

But a di bwoy own fault yah mah,
For im go out o' in way
Fi gawn fas' wid police-man,
At leas' a soh dem sey.

Dem sey im a creep oba di teata fence,
Dem halla 'who go deh?'
De bwoy dis chap one bad wud mah,
At leas' a soh dem sey.

De police sey 'tap or we opin fiah'.
But yuh know ow di bwoy stay,
Im gallop back come attack dem,
At leas' a soh dem sey.

Still, nutten woulda come from ee,
But what yuh tink, Miss May?
Di bwoy no pull out lang knife mah!
At leas' a soh dem sey.

Dem try fi aim afta im foot
But im head get een di way,
Di bullit go 'traight through im brain,
At leas' a soh dem sey.

Dry yuh yeye, mah, mi know ee hat,
But ee happen ebery day,
Knife-man always attack armed police
At leas' a soh dem sey

About Valerie Bloom

Valerie was born and grew up in Clarendon, Jamaica. Caribbean life and culture have shaped or influenced a great deal of her writing.

She was enchanted with literature from a very early age; her work first entered the public arena when she won a national competition, and as a result saw her poem 'Mek ah ketch har' form part of the national festival.

Valerie moved to England in 1979. Here she began writing and performing regularly, having tried her hand as a librarian, arts officer and even steel band instructor! Her work has been published in over 200 anthologies, including GCSE and A-Level syllabi. She has several poetry books and two novels for young people, 'Surprising Joy' and 'The Tribe', which was published in 2007.

As well as running writing workshops and courses in schools and elsewhere, Valerie performs across the country and internationally; she has appeared everywhere from local libraries to the Royal Albert Hall. She is also a familiar voice on television and radio - she recently produced a three part documentary, 'Island Voices' for BBC Radio 4.

Valerie lives with her family in Kent, and is inspired by everything around her, from the late September sunshine to the antics of her husband and children.

http://www.valbloom.info/page2.htm