Ackee Poems | Examples

Taboo

Taboo

I can't keep my eyes off
Your rosy peach complexion
Just hanging in the warm 
Haitian breeze...
So close but firmly shut.

Guarded by your spiky skin
As if to say wait for you to ripen 
under the hot August sun.

To see you smile with 
black pearls exposed,
To see you smile
Open and ready 
to be plucked...

I want you if only to die
by your poisonous embrace.
Just to taste the nutty flavor
on my tongue. Oh, eight weeks 
will be too long.

Jamaica At 60

There is no place like home 
I represent the black, green and gold. 
Out of many, we are one people, driven to succeed
Global excellence is our only mission to achieve. 
     
Reggae and dancehall are the rhythm and beat in our feet 
Only champions are born here 
Marley, Louise Bennett and Bolt are all homegrown.  
With blood, sweat and tears, we work hard for our own …this is the Jamaican way.

I come from a great nation, with people of strength and determination. I am proud to call myself Jamaican.

We move to one love and drink our Jamaican white rum …this is the land we love. 

The aroma of blue mountain coffee mixed in the morning air, the taste of ackee and saltfish with a little roast breadfruit are heavenly delights only a Jamaican can understand, the national dish of our homeland.     
 
Look at our smiles we celebrate 60 years in grand style.   
No matter where we are, yard or abroad with heads held high we are proud to call ourselves Jamaicans.  
We celebrate Jamaica's 60 years of independence by re-igniting our greatness within all who call themselves Jamaicans. 
   
"I am Jamaican"

Thus Spoke Thasonan of Meatus

they supped on Bjurholm
drank Kumis
dined on haggis
and rubbed down
with sassafras oil

some made dessert from ackee fruit
and had puffer fish and shark fin soup
what word of satan they spoke
that they are evil and vain
there vanities covered by
thongs of
Xinjiang
and cursed all that forbade there way
of loving
they made fun of the foolish
and cursed the wisdom of
yesteryear
they summoned evil spirts
and did forbidden dances
to music which
praised the acts of whores
and whoremongers
they triffled the need of
husband and wife
and cursed those who wished
 them to save and be healthy 
they were evil before one another
and evil with one another
they made images to those
who would be appulled
and were fools for doing so
as  a cloud from there our bodys
made them gag and repent


they sopke dogs as mens mothers
and there acts of procreation
and of what was 
the female dogs meant to them

Jamaica

Little Island of Jamaica, birth place of Reggae
Always jolly, on a sunny day
Rastafari is the place where it all started
1948 on the Empire Wind rush most departed
Ackee & salt fish is the national dish
I love walking on the beach eating bread and fish
We’ve shown the world about the rough treatments we’ve been through
Half of the people have no idea or a clue
We’ve praised to everyone on Africa
Give thanks for the great land of Ethiopia
Music legacy from Bob Marley and peter tosh
Babylon way’s try to make us brainwash
Peace & Love to the wonderful place of Jamaica
Live humble and don’t be a troublemaker
Jamaica land we love!

In Her My Love Dwells

Her eye balls gleam as bright night light
Her brow hairs, blinking black as ackee seed
Sag upon themselves
And the two curve as crescent of half moon
I mesmerize whenever she grins
And I wonder, are these teeth or diamonds?
And an utterance from her
Makes me fall into a trance
And as it chimes in my hearing
And I vend her name within a million times
And I think it never halt
And I become a child
Savouring the company of a toy
Her prettiness, her look
I wonder her ilk.

The Spot

Herbert is down the block
At his hang-out spot
But when dusk falls, he will
Climb home-made stairs
To his sanctuary
And stars above will shine.

At the spot, you'll see 
white cups that kiss eager lips
The color of cream, or mahogany
Some are as black as ackee seed with sheen.

These men, they dream; and lament their inner scenes
And governmental extremes
Their dusty streets are paved clean
Belize's haves and have not sometimes raves
On tell-tale paths, where loafers
Retirees, and foreign folks meet.

Do you know of a hang-out spot?
One dies, and their casket
As a matter of fact, will cruise...
By
That bees the end of that.

*

Traumatic Experience

Here we hid when we heard
A knock strongly---a sudden clattered upon the ground
Everyone indoor shrieked, trembled
Out...     out.....      we heard
They separated males from females
Sans bother how small we were
They guided us to the boot camp field
Gave us lives and death train. Rubbed ours and
Their faces with slurry that as dark as ackee seed
Handed each with weapons. To mamas males were living dead
1939th of september to1945th of september
The days were long gone, but still remember
Told us show mercy to whom fall by your way you are dead
Victory it our goal. Words of venom and
Drug infused made our heart to strong as harden wood
Mansions become ash by fingers tamped
Animate breathless by stabbed
Stick. Raise countries devoured by swallowing lips
May the old and youth of this and coming generations
Not experience such; the heroes and
Heroines that go to rest nurture as cradle in right hand.



An interview with a veteran who happens to a victim.

I Am

I am.  
by Richard V Fraser

Who am I?

I am the mix of African maroon, Scottish, Irish, German,English, Chinese and Indian

I am the flavour in the Jerk, the curry, the roast yam, the ackee and saltfish 

I am the Mento, the Ska, the Roots the Rock the Reggae and the Dance hall

I am the sun, the sand, the trees and the breeze

I am the vibe in Negril, the splash in Mo-bay, the weekend in Ochie and the bashment in the Kingston town

I am the julie mango, the sweet sugar cane, the nice cool jelly coconut and the sweet but sour sop

I am the Marley, the Garvey, the Quarrie, Bolt and the Louise Bennett

I am the Harder they come, the Smile orange, the Dance hall Queen and the Shotas

I am the Black, the Green, the Gold

I am the Independent, the Emancipated 

I am the Proud,  I am Jamaican

I Am

I am.  
by Richard V Fraser

Who am I, I am Jamaican

I am the mix of African maroon, Scottish, Irish, German,English, Chinese and Indian

I am the flavour in the Jerk, the curry, the roast yam, the ackee and saltfish 

I am the Mento, the Ska, the Roots the Rock the Reggae and the Dance hall

I am the sun, the sand, the trees and the breeze

I am the vibe in Negril, the splash in Mo-bay, the weekend in Ochie and the bashment in the Kingston town

I am the julie mango, the sweet sugar cane, the nice cool jelly coconut and the sweet but sour sop

I am the Marley, the Garvey, the Quarrie, Bolt and the Louise Bennett

I am the Harder they come, the Smile orange, the Dance hall Queen and the Shotas

I am the Black, the Green, the Gold

I am the Independent, the Emancipated 

I am the Proud,  I am Jamaican

I Am

I am.  
by Richard V Fraser

Who am I, I am Jamaican

I am the mix of African maroon, Scottish, Irish, German,English, Chinese and Indian

I am the flavour in the Jerk, the curry, the roast yam, the ackee and saltfish 

I am the Mento, the Ska, the Roots the Rock the Reggae and the Dance hall

I am the sun, the sand, the trees and the breeze

I am the vibe in Negril, the splash in Mo-bay, the weekend in Ochie and the bashment in the Kingston town

I am the julie mango, the sweet sugar cane, the nice cool jelly coconut and the sweet but sour sop

I am the Marley, the Garvey, the Quarrie, Bolt and the Louise Bennett

I am the Harder they come, the Smile orange, the Dance hall Queen and the Shotas

I am the Black, the Green, the Gold

I am the Independent, the Emancipated 

I am the Proud,  I am Jamaican

Expatriate

EXPATRIATE…
     (Apropos Soon Come)

Heard the chichi budo singing
in the banana walk; heard
the burro braying; and
the mongoose roaming the coop;
smelled the aroma of roast breadfruit,
ackee and salt fish; and
felt the icy cold air tease
the warmness of my body.

Then came the off-beat
pitter patter of raindrops falling
on the roof top, drowning away the dream:
washing me back to the shore of this distant reality.

Self imposed exile rivals
only that of being a refugee;
the thought eased by employment
of the more dignified term---expatriate.
Mocking Odysseus, we wander
the haphazard journey; sadly seeking
stolen ways back to the womb of our beginnings.

Digging deep down into the sacred screaming soul
of myself, I pray and implore almighty Jah---
mek mi not become a  of Sisyphus:

Jesus, mi’a crave ‘ome.

Turn Hand Make Fashion

The cooking oil ran out
Before the dough began to fry
She took the fishgut out
And broast it empty till it dry
Then making smaller cakes
She potted them crispy again
On medium flame, flakes
Of brown, the royal taste remain.

When the pants were shabby
This grown boy saw her cut the leg
And with competency
Placed a seamless patch, I couldn't beg
Nothing newer for pride.
I wore my short pants  out of tall
With a warm smile inside
For the most industrious of all

She cured wounds with the sod
Mixed in with a little spittle,
Made soap from ackee pod,
And her meat with spanish needle.
She shined the floor with fat
From melted candle, boiled water
With glass and sun; her chat
Was in prayer, her drink laughter.

Nothing was wasted there
Were mother kept us in her flock
Her folks ways did she share
Through proverbs; her faith tough as rock.
They say turn hand, make it
Turn hand and make fashion, my dear
The unconquered spirit
Of my mother, forbids the world a tear.

Jamaica Our Native Land

Have you forgotten your native land, the days when our ancestors sweat and harvest?
crop with their hands, Jamaica our black ***** land
the name itself is a brand

Have you forgotten the Jamaican national bird, our charming doctor bird?
can you remember that national dish we call ackee and saltfish
out of many one people, Jamaica human race, a land, a wonderful place
where human beings express their smile on their happy face

Have you forgotten the national heroes who fought for us and thus who died 
for us, can you remember this all, these seven national heroes and one heroine who
stood tall, although our country was small
these were the one's who made it remain still and not fall

The last sentence in the national anthem I shall recall
Jamaica, Jamaica, Jamaica land we love
created by the heavenly father above.


Demeter Edwards

Ackee

There you are
Red, black, and gold
And in the wind
Your dress uplifted, the tease
Of hungry men appetite
For I have looked up your tree
With jealousy
At birds beaking your breast
And felt my tongue
Its passion flaming
Longing to lick your fatness
Like a plate.

O so intimate are my desires
From the plump fruit in blushing skin
On beds of onions and pepper
Where you intertwine your nakedness
Around the fish stripped bare
And salt like a lover's sweat
I still your aroma can recall
From under the sheet 
Provoking a child's pasion
On Christmas morning
And a boy's fancy forever
Through the hunger of manhood.

Let the bounty come again
I do not care
What rebellion brought you to my house
Nor what evil report
The tattlering tongue will tell
Of some benign toxins
With which you break the heart of men
And mothers
My table is your welcoming arms
I am addicted to your love
Night and noon or morning soon
When upon my bread you swoon
Or perhaps cajoling with that half ripe breadfruit
Whose glory is the fire
You stoke so tenderly my desire
And bring to climax
The beauty of the moon

Jamaica's National Dish: Ackee and Salt Fish

Bring the fried ackee well dressed
In fresh herbs and spiced
Blend in codfish, like a breast
Flamed suckled, sufficed
My tongue to taste this
Dream of bliss.
Joy!

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