Kezumie Weekly

Outside of the baby boomers generation of the Alma Mock Yens and Velma Pollards, Kezumie Weekly is easily one of the most likeable and relatable female poets showing up on the local scene. I was lucky to have met upon her poems in Bookends - the weekly literary supplement carried in the Jamaica Observer - some months ago and believe me, she leaves an awesome taste in the mouth.

Her poems make the most economic use of lines and words I've ever seen, but surely they are enough to cut on the edge of some really sensitive issues that ride the female experience. She tells the stories whispered under the breaths of girls in agony, trivial to all in conventional circles - except to the one who feels it. Her language beautifully couples the paradoxical angst of feeling and the need for rationale. The titles Daddy Dearest, Fairytale Stories, Doll House and Superwoman say it all.

But the titles are not giveaways at all, I like the twists she spins in the belly of her poems, for example, in her Gardening (reminiscent of William Blake's A Poison Tree):

Yesterday my love for you was a rose garden
Rising each day I
watered it with tears
pruned it with suspicions,
poured fertiliser of fears
Today I wake to find that
time has replaced my roses
with weeds.
My daily rituals were not in vain.

And who saw the now most memorable "Cupid should have shot you twice" , coming in Senegal?

The twinkle in your eyes alerted me of a smile
You smile because I'm rantintg again
This time about her callings. You smile showing scant regard for my insecurities. Defending
yourself, you seek silence with a kiss. Retalitating
with a frown, I thought,

Cupid should have shot you twice.

I, in particular, am most in love with her Superwoman:

Life has stolen your joy
Rewarding you with struggles.
Fret not
For tonight there is a place:
A hero's retreat
Where hardlines transform into smiles
Disappointments bring laughter
Where sinister pranks ceased
And life's cruel whispers muted
But for now
I
Balance my fears with yours

And let me not forget to mention the senses raised in Haiku #1

growing
his dreams
in my womb

Kezumie gets us interested in poetry - a genre many have shied away from because words arranged on a page just has too many blanks to be filled with imagination. Her language and writing style give access to the meanings she has organised on a page. I haven't stopped to check if her work has meters or rhythm, or whether they are sonnets or continuous verse; but undoubtedly, her words are the kind that speak to my spirit and that I would like to have in my ear or on some really nice paper.

Kezumie Weekly really seems to stem the gripe of bad news often stemming from our generation now and gives a well-needed burst of hope and artistic inspiration.

S.S.