Selected poems from
Two Faces/Two Phases, Althea Romeo Mark
I am sharing a few poems from my chapbook, Two Faces/Two Phases. It goes back to a time when some of you were not yet born. Two Faces/Two Phases was published in Liberia in 1984. It was put out when I lived and taught in Liberia, West Africa. The publisher was Speed-O-Graphics, a small printing press owned by Dr. Fui F. K.Gbedmah, who was my colleague at the University of Liberia. We both taught in the English department at the university and were supporting each other—I, his new publishing venture, and he, my poetry.
Coming from the
Caribbean, and finding myself steeped in Liberian culture, I tried to capture
my observations of this new captivating environment in poetry. Perhaps some of these observations are
perhaps naïve, but as a writer, I had to put them down on paper. I see myself
as a constantly evolving writer. Writing is a compulsion. I live to write, and continue to seek ways to
improve my craft.
Two Faces, Two Phases
Two faces, two phases,
the old of the past,
the young of the present
and future;
the sad of the pessimist,
the glad of the optimist.
They will not remain the same.
They are like sand dunes
shifting in the desert.
Two faces, two phases—
quiet metamorphoses
of mind,
body,
soul.
I Am a Native
I am a native.
It doesn’t matter
what kind of native I am.
Being a native
tells me
I am different.
My native ways
make me distinct.
They tell me
I must wear grass skirts,
climb coconut trees,
dive into oceans for pennies,
smile a lot before cameras
and show my white, strong teeth.
I am a native.
I am always happy and free.
I don’t worry about anything.
I drink to pass my time away,
dance until midnight,
sleep until midday.
I am a native.
I must remain poor
‘cause poverty
is a definition of
my nativeness.
If I change my ways,
it is a bad sign
to those who admire
my nativeness.
Today,
I am a native.
Tomorrow,
I might become
a guerrilla
in an attempt
to change
my native ways.
Been Gone Too Long
Who are you
white man in black skin?
Who are you
who claim to be my brother,
claim to know my ways
yet cannot eat my food
or share the hospitality
of my hut?
Who are you
white man in black skin
who is an alien
in my compound,
stranger in my village,
who wishes to escape
the land of his father,
who turns away
from the mirror of truth?
Who are you
white man in black skin?
West Indian in Africa
What I see here
was once a part of us,
is still a part of us.
At sometime
in my lifetime
in a memory fading fast,
my parents, grandparents
cooked on coal pots,
carried water on our heads,
pounded cassava,
pounded cacao,
pounded and ground our corn,
salted and smoked
our meat and fish,
had to be inventive.
They told us, then,
we were poor.
Today,
I see it was
a stage of
evolution.
Dragon Lady
She’s old,
a wrinkled,
a sagging
bag of bones.
She’s wise
in the dark ways
of witches,
they say.
A dragon
roaming at night,
she sucks the blood of babes.
She came from
a village
when young,
danced with the devil
at midnight,
disavowed ancestors,
sold her soul.
A withering twig
without sustenance,
she squats
in dirt
in sun,
in rain.
We are blind,
our hearts are stones.
Our lips spit
contemptuous words
when passing by.
Nobody claims
this root-eating being
Implanted on
the roadside.
No son,
no daughter,
no sister.
© Althea Romeo
Mark, Two Faces, Two Phases, 1984, Speed-O-Graphics, Monrovia, Liberia
Born in Antigua, West Indies, Althea Romeo-Mark is an educator and
internationally published writer who grew up in the US Virgin Islands and lived
and taught in the USA, UK, and Liberia (West Africa) She now lives in Switzerland.
She writes poetry and short stories and
has been published in Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Colombia,
England, Germany, India, Kenya, Liberia,
Norway, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Switzerland, U.K, USA, and the Virgin
Islands. Her last poetry collection, The Nakedness of New, was published in 2018. She has
participated in International Poetry Festivals in Romania, Kenya, and Colombia.
Some recently published works include poems published in Abrazos & Letters from the Self to the World, DoveTales 2021, writingforpeace.org "Carrying the Spirit of Siafu, "Nyam," and " The Endless Tugging. "Personal Essay, “Sunrise in the Afternoon,” https://voxpopulisphere.com/2021/04/06/althea-romeo-mark-sunrise-in-the-afternoon/comment-page-1/#comment-127285; Second Impression of Grandfather,” published in Fragua de preces, published by Abra Cultural, Spain, 2020 and Poems, “The Returned,” “Photoshoot,” “Guayaberra,” “Pockets Empty, Head full of Stories,” and the short story, “The Remnant,” published in The Caribbean Writer, vol. 34, 2020. https://www.thecaribbeanwriter.org/product/volume-34
As always, your poems leave the reader thinking of much you have captured the soul of the black race when you attempt to recount various experiences through poetry. Thank you for your good work.
ReplyDeleteOh, my God, my dear Althea, from way back then your words already so tough and so tender. I cannot recall reading a single poem of yours that did not grip this reader. Boxing with you the opponent is definitely bound to feel some blows: over and over you throw your punches; you hit your mark.
ReplyDelete