[Memorial park monument, Port of Spain, Trinidad 🇹🇹 from google]
Standing in the sun,
Standing in the rain,
Lucky you;
We have no winters,
We have no Autumns,
To freeze you,
Or make you colour shame.
You stand proud,
For the value of service,
And every year,
They come bowing,
Bringing garlands,
To the memory of,
Our fallen braves.
© gillena cox 2025
Mango Chow
When i was a child i knew of a tiny tubular pepper we called bird pepper. These plants no one planted, they just popped up from nowhere, but did not remain in the size of a weed. They grew to well sized shrubs.
Maybe it was as Lisa Bellamy thought, “as a seed, I was shot out the back end of a blue jay when, heedless, she flew over the meadow.”
In those my youthful days. I used to add bird peppers to chow. Chow was any green fruit available peeled, with salt, garlic and peppers, added. In my area the favoured choice was mango chow. It was something as children we made, we relished we shared.
© gillena cox 2025
So it is there
So it is here
The blooming pinks
Adding delight
So there it's warming up
And here it is hot as usual
Different climes
Different reactions
Ever the same
The way nature sways
Her awe
© gillena cox 2025
Friends Debate Over...
So, do you want to?
I will let you have it, no problem,
The old fashioned clock on the wall stayed silent.
Should we do - rock paper scissors - then?
Oh please; say something! not with your eyes.
My coffee is cold, i shold not have sipped it.
I should have drank it more quickly.
Oh go on, you eat it!
The last cupcake is rightfully yours.
After all it is your birthday.
© gillena cox 2025
Quadrile - Enchant
Some enchanted word play,
A absorbs the S in sunlight,
To throw planet earth into
Deep darkness,
The kind where,
God has to come to the fore,
With his commands of enchantment,
"Let there be light"
And then the S in sunlight returns,
Happily.
© gillena cox 2025
Bright And Yellow
It was like any other morning
When i opened the front door
But this morning above a roof
Across the street
The Yellow Poui tree was in bloom
It was late March almost April
Hmm i said to myself
My friends in the colder climates
Are experiencing their season of Spring
And today three days into April it is
Bright and yellow
© gillena cox 2025
A Mermaids Gain
My mother a mermaid bless her fins,
Gave birth to me on a moonlit night at a traveller's inn,
There were scurrying feet,
And water boiled and drinks served neat,
She thrashed about for all the pain,
But smiled in the end for i was her gain.
© gillena cox 2025
Option...
Here is one, here is another. Though they are found some distance apart, the lesisurely walk along Maracas Beach in new flip flops close the distance between finds.
The tiny shells we pick up are halved and empty and halfway buried in the sand. It is a fun pastime, though.
Chip chip is delicious when curried, so i have heard, time and time again, but i have never eaten this much talked about dish.
a nagging hunger
lets go to get bake and shark -
now all of us smile
© gillena cox 2025
Truth Be Told - A Fold
They never believe me, why oh why?
My twin sister she is pretty, confident
In the way she spreads her mighty lie,
Mischief and misinformation, she,
Scattering these seeds, why oh why?
Am i ever an existence sturdy and strong?
To bend under the weight of a fly?
Perhaps i am intangible,
Could that be the reason why?
They hate me like bitter medicine,
Consumes tall tales of my twin sister, why oh why?
© gillena cox 2025
A Heartfelt Prayer
Engrave your whistles morning birds,
So every clock is useless,
And let me awake to your hirds,
For dawn is always more or less,
That invitation to all the words,
Spoken from the a sunless,
Sky waiting for when moon,
Vanishes behind cloud curds.
© gillena cox 2025
Image courtesy dVerse poetry pub
All the fires of red calmed
She sits demurely
Confident of her power
To lure him away
From the one who loves him true
© gillena cox 2025
Heart Unclassified - Fold
There is no dewey decimal system in my heart:
Neither are memories jumbled nor labled,
At clouds in slow motion i can shoot a dart,
Under a sky where destined birds fly;
Absolutely, no dewey decimal system in my heart,
Neither is it mixed or melded,
I can still taste coconut tart;
And rosebud still open in sweet fragrance,
And betrayal is stamped with ink indelible's art ,
Its all there a science project of suspension;
No need for a dewey decimal system in my heart.
© gillena cox 2025
Quadrille Indigo
The Western Main Road is abuzz,
Onlookers dance to soca music,
The children in costume frolic
Under azure sky, where layered
Cumulus, puff up like cotton candy
In the afternoon sky;
Here comes a masquerader
His indigo motifs resonate his
Dancing in blue sneakers.
© gillena cox 2025
© gillena cox 2025
She never liked Port of Spain. She lived in the central Trinidad an area called Warrenville. The bus route meandered through cane fields on those dusty afternoons she travelled home ftom work tired, but happy the weekend was hers to return home to her own five children left in the care of her mother and father
Such was her plight, an absconding husband, who deceided to go live with a woman who sang at calypso tents during the Carnival season. Her father had stretched out his arms to her. "Come back home, he said"
Use this as a challange she mused. It's not the end of the world, but rather you can make of it a parka for your soul, warming your consciousness to healing and growth. © gillena cox 2025
Birthday Party Quadrille
Its all happening online
Its all going to be sooo fine
Is promised - music and a good time
Come, let us lime
There'll be drinks and tidbits
Ah but no chairs on which to sit
Tomorrow i'll be five&seventy
Come to my amazing birthday party
© gillena cox 2025
NOTE: Birthday Party Link Opens Tomorrow
HERE
Blue Mood : A Fold Poem
When she left him, sadness reigned
Supreme, in every aspect of his being;
It's hard to say why, everytime it rained
He picked up his guitar, but never shed a tear;
Still, when she left him, sadness reigned;
Music can stir the soul in every way,
In every emotional state named,
Yet he choose the rain, to strum
Away those feelings, that to him pained
A heavy heart, heavier than a paint brush,
Truely when she left him, sadness reigned
© gillena cox 2025
Groundhog Day Haibun
Groundhog Day, February 2nd does not apply where i live. Here it's the dry season, and any groundhop sitings would have to be at a mas band camp, particularly a children's camp, where masquerade or as we trinis 🇹🇹 say mas costumes are in the making.
However where the weather transforms from winter to spring Groundhog day may be seen to many there as a marker for season change from winter to early spring or not.
If you don't believe that groundhogs can predict the weather, it can still be a fun time to enjoy some groundhog day jokes.:
What's the furriest side of a groundhog? The outside...
Why did the groundhog bring its watch to the bank? It wanted to save time...
When does a groundhog come before a woodchuck? In the dictionary...
Did you hear about the groundhog that drank invisible ink? It's still at the doctor waiting to be seen...
seasons and time zones -
the universality
of really good jokes
© gillena cox 2025
Groundhog Day Jokes from https://www.today.com
45 Funny Groundhog Day Jokes for Kids and Adults
