Fire

Out of the ashes rises the phoenix and it is not me. I have no solid tale of my history recent or ancient. But I do see possibility and potential perhaps in some current murmurings that may turn into flight if ideas and dreams that have lay burning in ever stoked embers grow wings.

Too Young to Married - To the tune of Too Young To Soca

I SAY I LOSING MY MIND

MAYBE FOR A LITTLE WHILE

I ALMOST CRY IN UTTER BEMUSEMENT

I SAY WHAT I HEAR IS NOT

CAUSE IT HURT MEH DOWN TO MEH GUT

WHEN THEY START WITH THE DEFEDNING

THEY TALKIN BOUT LITTLE BOYS

12 YEAR OLD GIRL AND THING

THEY SAY THEY SHOULD CONCENTRATE

ON GETTING A WEDDING RING

LOOKING FOR WEDDING PLANNER

WEDDING DRESS AND FINE CHINA

THEY SAY THEY SHOULD BE IN HOUSE

SHACK UP WITH CHILDREN AND THING

THEY SAY THEY WANT TO GET MARRIED

OY YO YO THEY MAKING JOKE

THEY WANT RED DOT ON THEIR FOREHEAD

OY YO YO THEY MAKING JOKE

THEY SAY LET THEM ALL BUY ROTI

OY YO YO THEY MAKING JOKE

DOH STUDY MATHS AND HISTORY

OY YO YO THEY MAKING JOKE

TELL DEM

LET BABIES GET MARRIED

MARRIED

LET BABIES GET MARRIED

MARRIED

FREE UP THEMSELVES AND FLAM

LET THE BABIES JAM JAM JAM

THEY MAY BE SMALL

BUT THEY AINT TOO YOUNG AT ALL

THEY SAY SHE IS A LADY

AND WE KNOW WHAT IS BEST FOR SHE

TO CALL SHE UNCLE HUZZY

SHE MAY BE A LITTLE GIRL

HER HAIR MAY STILL BE IN CURLS

BUT SHE KNOW HOW TO MAKE GROCERY

THEY SAY HOW HE MORE MATURE

THAN ALL LITTLE BOYS HIS AGE

AND HOW HE NEVER HIT SHE

NEVER EVEN GET IN A RAGE

THEY SAY HOW THE TWO THEM WAS FRIENDS

FROM THE DAY THE BORN

AND NOW IT IS TIME FOR US TO JOIN THEM AS ONE

THEY SAY THEY WANT TO GET MARRIED

OY YO YO THEY MAKING JOKE

TO HONEYMOON IN ST VINCENT

OY YO YO THEY MAKING JOKE

THEY SAY WE THE PARENTS CONSENT

OY YO YO THEY MAKIN JOKE

WE JUST GET THE DRESS ON THE INTERNET

OY YO YO THEY MAKIN JOKE

TELL DEM

LET BABIES GET MARRIED

MARRIED

LET BABIES GET MARRIED

MARRIED

FREE UP THEMSELVES AND FLAM

LET THE BABIES JAM JAM JAM

THEY MAY BE SMALL

BUT THEY AINT TOO YOUNG AT ALL

THE IMAM SAY HE DOH CARE

TELL THE STATE NOT TO INTERFERE

WITH WE THE PEOPLE BUSINESS

WE COULD DO IT ANY WAY

PLUS IT AINT HAVE NO RED HOUSE AGAIN

SO WE PEOPLE GO JUST HANDLE IT

IF HE IS 14 YEARS OLD

AND HE WANT TO MARRY SHE

HE SAY THAT IS NO ISSUE FOR

THE OLIGARCHY

I MINE SHE FROM SINCE SHE SMALL

AND I SAY SHE NOT TOO YOUNG

IF WE WANT TO MARRY DEM OFF

IS NOT YOUR BUSINESS AT ALL

THEY SAY THEY WANT TO GET MARRIED

OY YO YO THEY MAKIN JOKE

THEY SAY OLD AGE DOH MEAN NOTHING

OY YO YO THEY MAKIN JOKE

THEY SAY HOW MUCH AH DEM DIVORCE

OY YO YO THEY MAKIN JOKE

WITH OUTSIDE WOMAN AND RACE HORSE

TELL DEM

THEY COME OUT TO KILL WE

KILL WE

TALKING BOUT MARRIED

BABIES

LET ME SEE YOU HAND HAND HAND

HOLD THEM AND JAM JAM JAM

THEY MAY BE SMALL

BUT THEY AINT TOO YOUNG AT ALL

THEY START APPROACHING ME

WITH QUESTIONS ON THE POLICY

AS IF I MARRIED OFF MEH PICKENY

AH TELL DEM DOH COME ASK ME

GO AND ASK THEM IN CARONI

WHY THEY HOLDING ON TO TRADITION

THE CONVERSATION DID REALLY MESS UP MEH HEAD

IT ALL ON MEH MIND ONE NIGHT WHEN I LIE DOWN IN BED

SO I DECIDE TO END THE CONTROVERSY

AND SAY CHILD MARRIAGE AFFECTS EVERYBODY

THEY SAY THEY WANT TO GET MARRIED

OY YO YO THEY MAKIN JOKE

THEY WANT WEDDING CAKE AND CARRIAGE

OY YO YO THEY MAKIN JOKE

THEY SAY THEY READY FOR BELLY

OY YO YO THEY MAKIN JOKE

MIXIN FORMULA AND CRUSH VEGGIES

OH YO YO THEY MAKIN JOKE

TELL DEM

THEY TRYING TO KILL WE

KILL WE

CHILDREN CYAH GET MARRIED

MARRIED

LET ME SEE YUH HAND HAND HAND

IF YUH UNDERSTAND STAND STAND

THE CHILDREN TOO SMALL

AND SHOUDLNT BE MARRIED AT ALL

The work of Rodell Warner

The latest work from Rodell Warner, The Most Corrupting Notion Ever Captured in a Dream, opened at Alice Yard last evening. It is in the main made up of painted objects he found and some he created using papier mache. They were painted in a similar pattern using black and white and were placed on display around the Woodbrook space where they will be on show until February 21, 2017. 

I had been hearing about the show for some months as he withdrew to create this, perhaps, his first major solo showing. I knew he was inspired by visual static and said he found it in gray as a static thing and too, so, between black and white. The images speak for the work in that they seem homogenous while being individual at the same time.

For me the show coming in the middle of Carnival, mirrors the underlying theme of the festival locally. While usually divided among politically determined racial lines at this time it goes black and white as we relive the Mardi Gras vs Canboulay dynamic.

There are two stories of Carnival, simply: the European derived masquerade that has devolved into the showgirl style costume at least in part, and the jamette carnival born out of the ritual of celebration at the end of the harvest season when the cane was burned. 

It is like how we hold on to the things we do that are perhaps negative. We feel this divide is crucial to the unique story that is Carnival and necessary for its survival. Its like to me, accepting your whole story even if it doesn't hold all candy coated pieces. I can't say apart from what I have been told and have read what the distilled truth is in that we also pride ourselves on being a carnival people and seem quite comfortable with that. 

I think of this as I take in Rodell's work with its provocative discipline that begs the question if we dream in the colours of carnival or in black and white.