PAD Challenge Day 9: Carne Vale (Carnival)
PAD
Challenge Day 9: Write an ekphrasis poem.
Carne
Vale (Carnival)
African
ancestors
said
farewell to bondage
so
that the Caribbean
children
of today
could
celebrate their freedom
with
their heads high covered
in
sequins hats and bejeweled tiaras;
bodies
draped with
embellished
body suits,
bras
and belts,
with
feather leg bands
and
colorful angel and
butterfly
wings to match.
This
is one traditional ceremony
the
slave master will never
get
to kidnap, rape, or execute.
The
Eastern, Western and
Southern
Caribbean,
the
Greater and Lesser Antilles,
the
Netherlands Antilles,
the
Windward and Lewward Islands,
the
French and British West Indies,
and
the Mexican Caribbean
share
kinship with the sweet
Motherland’s
Bongo and Conga drums,
the
steelpans, calypso, and
soca
of Trinidad and Tobago
and the reggae of Jamaica.
Their
flags will dance
with
pride as they sing
“one
love, one heart”
through
high and low
waters
and winds,
under
the scorching
rays
of the sun
and
mellow moonlights.
They
will harvest tempos
for
their blood and bones
to
speak dutty wine,
mambo,
merenuge,
and
daggering then
bruk
it down as they parade
independently
with joy!
D’ElegantOne
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Carvinal painting taken in Nassau, Bahamas, circa 2016 |
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