Spice Isle Wedding - Part IV

Toss bridal bouquet, all said yes;
Unanimous vote came from guests;
On grassy slope shoes kicked aside;
Naked feet moved from side to side.

One determined mind to crop prize;
A winning plan she did devise;
Obstacles in hand placed on ground;
Participants gathered around.


































Bride tossed bouquet in wedding dress
In mid-air, whose hands will it bless?
Like greased lightning the bouquet flew;
Michelle after it did pursue.

Michelle's outstretched hands cupped the prize;
And with the legend it supplies;
In grand style she holds the bouquet;
Congratulations poured her way.




























Now she poses with the new bride
What thoughts now in her head reside?
A wish that soon she too would wed;
Of course, such thoughts she never said.














(To be continued)

Twisted

(in Acrostic)

True to form the media have no shame
writing notes on palm, brain juggles the clues
imagination lost on ruby lips
searching between fingers for words that rhyme
thinking how best they would turn heat around
exuberance alas! Spills in the air
dies when humor gallops on a nightmare

© Paterika Hengreaves
February 9, 2010/Barbados

Haiti's Earthquake Horrors

(In Ballade Form)














Those memories keep on flashing;
My head is as heavy as lead;
Desperate hands in marl scratching;
Earth shakes; rubble covers the dead,
And buildings toppled like slice bread;
Folks are reeling from serpent's sting
Devastation around them spread;
Folks are reeling from serpent's sting.

Folks still dying; houses crashing ;
Voodoo gods wave oracle creed;
The aftershocks are nerve-racking;
Food, shelter and medics they need
To flee, to the hills with great speed
On life support and any thing;
America comes with airspeed;
Folks are reeling from serpent's sting.

Here and there dazed folks are dashing,
Like animals in a stampede,
With rubble on ground formatting,
And child-eating spirits mind read
Squalors' brains, to plant dreadful seed;
The jail fell, jailbirds have no string;
Babies are crying, can't breastfeed;
Folks are reeling from serpent's sting.

Prince Harry in Bimshire indeed;
He fundraised in a socca swing
For Haitians, to help stop their bleed;
Folks are reeling from serpent's sting.

© Paterika Hengreaves
February 3, 2010/Barbados

Knavery

(in Senryu)

thieves bask in sunshine
time ultimately sneaks up
pants drop on the ground

justice chariots
wielding knives that carve deeply
retribution reigns

© Paterika Hengreaves
January 31, 2010/Barbados

Senryu Chain

(Theme: Hope)

like feathers hope is
the ointment for yearning souls
singing without words

running with success
reoccurring decimal
boldface desire

© Paterika Hengreaves
January 30, 2010/Barbados

Senryu

(Theme: Liberty)

liberty has wings
navigating shallow minds
despising all laws


-o0o-


freedom lights wise eyes
and finds in each growing cell
potent law of laws

© Paterika Hengreaves
January 29, 2010/Barbados

Errol Walton Barrow, The Statesman

(In Terza Rima)














Found island a garden of villages,
Father of Barbados' Independence ,
And plantations steep with British linkage .

1950, Barrow with contestants
Campaigned with vigour, for the St George seat
Which he captured, the House felt his presence.

Lawyer/economist was hard to beat
His platform, for progress and for reform;
The other side of the aisle was his meat.

Veteran of WW2 did transform
The evil laws, that ruled this great island
That flowed with colonial chloroform.

The folds and wrinkles on the land he ironed
Out, left by self-serving occupiers.
From his vineyard, fruits we eat have ripened.

On his legacy we must build higher
His 21st Century leaders brighter...

© Paterika Hengreaves
January 19, 2010/Husbands, St James