Cremation

He burned up
A blackened jacket
Of denim dragonhide,
A sweat-starched scaly paving
Of fossilised fabric
And daubed engine grease.

Laughing
In my drunken kaleidoscope,
He held a cigarette
Magnifier
To his lips
And focused
Clattering colours,
The prism flung bar,
Into a thumbnail of white fire,
A feral flash that bolted
Through creased motor-oil canals,
Skittered,
Synapsed up his sleeves
And burst on his back
Like flaring wings.

I see that angel image,
His phoenix impression
Scorched in naked sun:
Not the stamped-out
Ashen aftermath,
The cancerous crumple,
Trampled charcoal
Smoker’s lungs,
But spinning beer,
The ballet arc of arms
And pictures of him,
Living,
Shedding his skin.

Richard Osmond

---

Express Yourself -

Express yourself
just how you like

in rap-list poetry
gospel or calypso
in the kitchen
in the bedroom
in high-kick 'tae-bo

Express yourself
intensely
express yourself
immensely
using only vowels
or just … consonantally!

Show who you are
by swinging up the fairway,
some cock-a-doodle-do
on a trip to Timbuctou
with a sexy guy called André

try yowling at the dentist
brushing up your tennis
crossing all the bridges
in Amsterdam and Venice

Yes, express yourself in nylons
and nothing else beside 'em
be that elemental woman
running naked through the garden:
forget about the high heels
tight-fitting blue jeans
big loopy earrings
sexy sandals
aromatic candles

trust a chunky necklace
an Amazonian head-dress
wild untidy dreadlocks
over perfect flowing tresses

Express the artist in your heart
in Caribbean recipes -
callaloo and bodi -
sugar-wine and cane-rum
steelband and tassa drums

take up whitewater rafting
Himalayan climbing
bending low for limbo
learning Esperanto

Be a rollercoaster screamer
a hammock-laying dreamer,
a surfer on the big wave
a sleeper under starlight
every other Wednesday

Let no one say you can't
express yourself exactly
in any way you want

Roslyn Alleyne



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