Under the Trees

ROBBERY UNDER DE TREES

Not me under the trees again,

Ah 'fraid manicou pee on me.

So any time you see me there

Is because they let me in free.

They rob me twice in succession

With shows they had last carnival,

So I make up mih mind since then

I eh going back there at all.

Machel Montano din show up,

And had patrons angry like hell;

David Rudder was very hoarse

And was a very poor chantwell.

"King David" just like Jemima,

The girl with the curl dong she forrid,

When he good, he extremely good,

But when he bad, he damn horrid!

So daiz it for me and Rudder,

Ah sorry to have to say so,

Now, anytime he performing

They go ha' to pay me to go.

It happening much too often -

Advertised artistes don't perform...

No refund, no apology,

In sweet T&T that's the norm.

At Plymouth Jazz, two years ago,

Toni Braxton didn't appear,

But patrons, though disrespected,

Still went back the following year.

Not me ! They cyar take my money

And treat me with scant courtesy,

Now, when I visit Tobago

Is to lime and bathe in the sea.

Another place me eh going

Is dem so called calypso tent...

'Cause either they ponging Panday,

Or they praising the government.

Few calypsonians entertain

With melody, humour and wit,

Too many still in the toilet...

Ah find is time they finishit!

At Central Bank Auditorium

Is in the road you have to park,

All kinda touts does hassle you

If you dare go there after dark.

They swear they have security,

But patrons had to face the plight

Of a stinkin' dutty vagrant

Ushering them inside one night.

So that is yet another place

That is now on my NO GO list,

So many places with pleasures

That I'm sad to say will be missed.

Gene Wilkes

Cocoyea

Sweet T&T

SWEET T&T

I is a Trini to de bone

Easy for some people to say,

But lots ah dem who saying so

Pack dey jaajee and gone away.

Dey run to hell out de kitchen

Cause dey couldn't deal wid de heat.

Safe in London and Toronto

Dey now saying T&T sweet.

Nice woman, food,drink,music, fete,

Is all dese "patriots" recall,

But slackness,crime and pollution

Dey doh talk about dat at all.

Some ah dem, who have business, stay,

But dey wife and children not here,

Cause banditry and kidnapping

Used to have dem living in fear.

Still others, who complain bout crime

In dese sweet islands in de fun,

Involved in the narcotics trade

Or importing and renting gun.

Big shots, who organising crime,

Make life hard for de rest ah we

Who cyar afford to pay to live

In a gated community.

The two most common ways to die

In this so called sugar island

Is either by road accident,

Or some blood thirsty gunman's hand.

Whether you in a vehicle,

Or walk the road in T&T,

Make sure that you at peace with God,

And prepared for Eternity.

Murder and road death statistics,

Are both vying for prominence,

Newspaper headlines everyday

Highlight the latest incidents.

You eh safe whether in your home,

In a restaurant or a fete,

Bandits and rapists on the prowl

Looking to see what they could get.

And even after they rob you,

Like dem brutes still not satisfy...

De devil always chooking dem

To make sure dat somebody die.

Drunken drivers cause accidents

On de road after every fete,

But still Traffic authorities

Cyar bring the breathalyser yet.

The center strip on the highway

Is now one giant litter bin

For motorists of the nation

To throw boxes and bottles in.

Vaps, vai kee vai and now for now

Are de watchwords of de nation...

But we planning for the future...

We have 20-20 vision.

Yet still, if Trinidad bun dong,

Is in de ashes ah livin',

Hell or high water, sink or swim,

Wid de Trini boat ah sailin'.

Gene Wilkes

Cocoyea

Mongrel

MONGREL ?

I find it hard to understand

All this bickering about race,

With so much miscegenation

Going on all over the place.

Here, in this Rainbow Republic,

We have an ethnic callaloo,

Hybrids that transcend barriers

To enrich our cultural brew.

Mestizo, beige, khaki people,

And it have so many ah we,

Making solid contribution

To the uplift of this country.

Half white, half breed, half Chinee,

Brown skin, beke negre, shabeen,

Red people and cocoa payol,

Dougla, and others in between.

We, who is neither fish nor fowl,

But just a little bit of each,

May never know where we come from,

But we know for sure that we reach.

We eh have no mother country:

Spain, China, Syria, Lebanon,

France, England, India, Africa...

We TOTALLY TRINBAGONIAN.

Mongrel is not a dirty word,

Look around you, can't you see

That in another couple years

We go be in the majority?

Even strong roots cannot nourish

Those branches cut off from the tree;

Why should the weaver unravel

This multi ethnic tapestry?

So we have to stop the ruction,

Is we responsibility

To wipe out racial prejudice

In we beloved Tee and Tee.

GENE WILKES

(Mongrel Trini)

Cocoyea.

True True Trini

Just who is a True True Trini?
Follow me if you want to know
The happy "vai kee vai" people
Of Trinidad and Tobago.
Yes, we's the Real Rainbow People,
Is we who invent mas' and pan;
Whenever soca music play
We quick to wine and raise we han'.
Nobody more friendly than we,
We show visitors a good time,
With fine food and kaiso music
They guaranteed a sound sweet lime.
We have an eclectic culture,
We does borrow, and throw away,
So what really indigenous
None ah we here cyar really say.
A doubles or chow ming sangwidge
Is breakfas' nearly every day,
A strimps roti and red sweedrink,
Bake and shark at Maracas Bay.
We put "my-own-ears" on "salard",
And could get "ignorant jes so",
But doh say we "miserable",
'Cause we "does'nt eat nice you know".
When we want things in a hurry
We say "Any how is a how",
And when come to "fatigue giving"
We doh care 'bout no sacred cow.
We will redicule yuh marmie,
Pong yuh gyul and yuh nennen too,
And if you play you getting vex,
Is "Who vex lorse" , or "Zaffay you".
This is a land where gobar flows,
And we love to wallow in it,
So politicians take the cue
And does baffle we wid bullshit.
They love to beat they chest and boast
'Bout Tee and Tee being world class,
While so many ah we "experts"
Doh know they elbow from they glass.
Cars spewing toxic emissions,
Giving we red eye and sore throat,
Still, on the side of the highway
Man selling "Fresh" Pork and Fish and
Goat.
Some complain 'bout noise pollution
At Carnival Time every year,
But they just have to grin and bear it,
'Cause nobody eh really care.
We must fete, and band must practise
If you want the pan to "song good",
Who feel that they "cyar take de noise"
Have to move out de neighbourhood.
All who from "Abercombree" Street
Could go "Manzalinna" and lime,
We could meet in "Sandy Grandy"...
Any time is Trinidad time.
Ah mean who care if Ash Wednesday
Might one year fall on Good Friday???
So longst man could put on panty
And drink from posey on Jourvert.
But now that the summit over
Better days for we bound to come,
Smooth roads and water in we taps,
In Papa Pat's magic Kingdom.

(c)copyright Gene Wilkes 2009