Best Breadfruit Poems

It was a sight that I could not forsee
Ambushed by my own men at morning hour
Hands tight with cord and naked from the waist
A mean air on the Bounty blew unkind
It was the troubled wind of mutiny
My men, whose morals all have been erased
Once officers,...

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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...

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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...

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Saturated with fish fry smells, Bar-B-Cue smoke,
rodeo dust and sounds of deep water blues,
with teasing frothing lace spread on the shore,
Gulf Coast birth breeze blew winds 
in sails to Caribbean Sea, Blue Mountain
berries, banana walk yam hills,

And coconut rain drops tapping reggae beats
on zinc roof...

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While Beauty Sleeps


While Beauty sleeps, there are souls upon this earth that have never known her. Many seasons have passed and her eyes are still shut. She is hiding behind pavements of tar and cement. She is drugged from the smell of burning rubber and...

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Step by step, I steadily aged with time and wisdom.
I appreciatively obliged old bones to bow before kindred, king and kingdom.
Thank you mama for cleaning my snotty scum, 
thank you for caring when childish tears like rivers run, 
thank you for the sweet dukunu, the...

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Here’s to all my champions, yes you, this is my thing
You are the yam, cocoa, breadfruit, cornmeal dumpling 
Pumpkin, dasheen, and potato, in my pot of soup
An excellent, poetic, supportive, pen loving group

You, David Smalling, make my day most bright
With Audrey, you encourage me to...

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Adjusting Appetizing Palates.
I have sampled the variety,
I am the one who has tasted life;
The one who has had a taste of life.
Rarely indulged in the main course-
Seldom a full meal-
I come hungry-
To leave satisfied...
I want more substance.

Sampled the world on wooden toothpicks.
I have had itty...

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I’ve seen black sheep set in Pongola grass

Within pallid seas, differed, 

Like black buttons on a white cotton suit;

Sheep are color blind.

A bee is fine-looking,

But there’s fire in its ass.

Can the wild goat trust

The adder with inviting pelt?

Did Emmitt Till paint changes

With his blood in...

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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...

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The cock of day crow over johncrow mountain
Sun come bright
Like Jane and Louise shine eye girl
And light
Just drop from heaven like ripe breadfruit
I pull the darkness from my eyes
And look and see only one thing on my mind
Always like bulla cake and pear
Always like coconut...

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Floating  Market on the River

A Thailand tradition 
Large sun umbrellas 
And boat roofs or hoods
And Asian conical hats
A bucket of cracked brown egg shells 

A grandma quickly whips up 
Egg, oyster and fresh, crisp bean sprout
In rice flour batter

Raw and cooked food
Vendors sell garden...

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"Just live a little, Hawaiian style!" Quote by Hawaiian Style Band.

On the first day of Christmas, my tutu gave to me,
-- (and...) a-*Ne-ne-Goose-un-der-a-gua-va-tree.
(guava fruits are the best part of their diet--trust me)

On the second day of Christmas, my tutu gave to me,
-- two *Gardenias
(*Hawaiian gar-DE-nias...

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spring night owls 

dream i can’t quite wake from

beautiful interlude
spirit grain
rice slippery
pavement warm
gray nights
all bound up 
with what
will she write
tomorrow
ever again

queqeg
in a storm-tossed
journey
trading breadfruit
for wine
bouncing balls
 and
friendship

for short staccato forgiveness
of madness
silent growing
so nearly gone...

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Captain Bligh was his name,
he ruled his ship with an iron cane.
The Bounty was the ship,
sailing to Tahiti, via Cape Horn was the trip.
At Cape Horn, after tacking back and forth,
eastward, was set the course.
It was the long way round,
but they were still Tahiti bound.
After...

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