Theme 4: Discrimination

I wish torch throwers of nightwould burn lights for decent times.Wish plotters in pyjamas would prayfor themselves. Wish people wouldn’ttalk as if I dropped from Mars.

• Dreaming Black Boy

• West Indies, USA

• Test Match, Sabina Park

• Ol' Higue

I wish my teacher’s eyes wouldn’tgo past me today. Wish he’d knowit’s okay to hug me when I kicka goal. Wish I myself wouldn’t hold back when answer comes.I’m no woodchopper nowlike all ancestors.

• Dreaming Black Boy

• West Indies, USA

• Test Match, Sabina Park

• Ol' Higue

Proudly wearing the rosette of my skin

I strut into Sabina

England boycotting excitement bravely

something badly amiss.

• Dreaming Black Boy

• West Indies, USA

• Test Match, Sabina Park

• Ol' Higue

If only babies didn’t smell so nice!

And if I could only stop

Hearing the soft, soft call

Of that pure blood running in new veins,

Singing the sweet song of life

Tempting an old, dry-up woman who been

Holding her final note for years,

Afraid of the dying hum…

• Dreaming Black Boy

• West Indies, USA

• Test Match, Sabina Park

• Ol' Higue

Subtle Uncle Sam, afraid too many desperate blacks might re-enslave this Island of the free,

might jump the barbed

electric fence around ‘America’s

back yard’ and claim that vaunted sanctuary... ‘Give me your poor...’

• Dreaming Black Boy

• West Indies, USA

• Test Match, Sabina Park

• Ol' Higue

...is about the influence of the United States on the islands of the West Indies and their inhabitants. He points out that some islands have done better than others, and the one that seems to have done the best is Puerto Rico. However, even in San Juan, Puerto Rico's capital city, the wealthy appearance is deceptive, because there is still a great gap between the wealthy Americans and the poor locals.

• Dreaming Black Boy

• West Indies, USA

• Test Match, Sabina Park

• Ol' Higue

The persona is an Englishman who comes to Sabina Park to watch a cricket match between his home team and the West Indies team. A proud man, he becomes uneasy once he realizes that something is wrong. His team appears to be abstaining from any exciting gameplay, and the pace of the match is slow. He notices the stark differences between cricket at Lords and here at Sabina Park.

• Dreaming Black Boy

• West Indies, USA

• Test Match, Sabina Park

• Ol' Higue

The 'Ole Higue' is a supernatural character found in Caribbean folklore. This nocturnal being is also called a jumbie, soucouyant and backoo as is a mixture of a vampire and a witch. In Caribbean folklore the Ole Higue or Old Hag is an old woman. She sheds her skin at nights; stores it in a mortar and turns into a ball of fire before going about to suck the blood of babies.

• Dreaming Black Boy

• West Indies, USA

• Test Match, Sabina Park

• Ol' Higue

The poem is about a black boy who wishes that he could have regular things in life. Things such as a congratulatory hug, to be educated to the highest level and to travel without harassment. The persona yearns to stop fighting for the basic right to be successful and to rise above societal expectations.

• Dreaming Black Boy

• West Indies, USA

• Test Match, Sabina Park

• Ol' Higue

Dreaming Black Boy : I wish _ of night would burn lights for decent times