Heart and Body
A Collection of Poems
by
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Living in the Ghetto
Living in the Ghetto with nothing to do
Get out of the Ghetto there’s a future ahead of you.
Everywhere you go they close doors in your face
All they want you to do is just "hot" up the place.
Yes yes mi bredda,
Ghetto runnings well tough sah!
Wah we a go do when Babylon come
An’ kill off the youths with dem drugs an’ guns?
I pray Dear Lord my soul to keep
From the sweat of my brow to the soles of my feet,
Because no one is safe from the demons on the street,
And everywhere we go is oppression we meet.
"As I an’ I sit an’ contemplate . . .
‘Bout di killin’ an’ violence an’ di hate . . .
Blame di politician!
‘Cause a dem rule di lan’.
No youth man it start in the home . . .
It’s not from the street that I and I rome.
The Ghetto is a place for a special breed,
So youth man and woman these words you should heed . . .
Honor your mother, your father, your friends,
And Jah Jah will guide an’ protect you ‘till the end . . .
Give thanks and praise to Jah Jah in the sky,
And some day my friends He’ll be back for you and I."
Living in the Ghetto with nothing to do
Its because you haven’t looked around you.
Young men and women take charge of your lives,
Stay away from drugs, guns, and knives.
Ghetto runnings well tough,
And life is rough,
But with the help of God we will persevere,
An’ big up wi chest without any fear.
Completed 24 May 1992
First verse in cooperation with Beriah (Neil) Walker of Jamaica.
Julia
Who is this woman . . .? So quietly she lays,
A more beautiful sight I’ve yet to see in my days.
I hold her close and she becomes like a child,
So soft, so tender, and so mild.
Where is she from . . . ? Do I care . . . ?
This woman beside me is oh so rare.
Her body is soft, firm, and solid,
One touch of her hand and my heart beats on rapid.
Can all this be real . . . ? Even though it may seem . . . ?
This woman next to me was not in my dream!
She is all I ever wanted, and yet not . . .
My God this woman has got a lot . . .
She came into my life very silently,
And gave me her love sweet and gently.
So sweet and tender - to her I had to surrender,
I could not ignore her and I dared not linger,
So without reservation I gave her my love
For this lady of mine must’ve been sent from above.
As she walks her body sways
Like a tree blown by the wind in different ways.
Her smile brightens this dimly lit room
Which was once filled with loneliness and gloom.
As she stands really tall and straight for me
An African Goddess is whom I see.
Her eyes a cheerful hazel, and skin smooth and golden,
Never a more beautiful sight have I beholden.
My soul belongs to God, but she can have my heart
Forever and ever I pray we never part.
"Don’t urge me to leave or turn my back on you.
Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay.
Your people will be my people, and your God my God.
Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried.
May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely,
If anything but death separates you and me."
She took my dream, my heart, my life
This woman who dared I will make my wife.
Some day I must, because this is not just lust,
It’s a relationship of love, friendship and trust.
Completed 27 May 1992.
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About the Book
Heart and Body is everything that is good and bad, right and wrong in society today. It is a stimulatingly - tantalizing, new form of self-expression of today's youths, which captivates the essence of yesterdays youths. This collection of poetry is a "must have" for everyone... poetry lover or not. All can relate, all can empathize, all can sympathize, and all can conceptualize.
This is indeed... "power!"
WITH ALL MY HEART, BODY, AND LOVE.
General Norman T.C.O.L.
About the Author
General Norman, born, Norman Anthony Francis, 30 August 1964, in St. Andrew, Jamaica, West Indies. (The third of five children: 4 boys, 1 girl). He developed his interest in Literary Arts during his senior year at Tarrant Secondary School. During this time he was heavily involved in performing arts and the writing of short plays and skits. General Norman migrated to Brooklyn, New York in April of 1983 to live with his father. He and his older brother, Chris, were very close. They were born one year apart, but grew up like twins. The separation came in June 1985 when General Norman decided to join the United States Navy. It was a very difficult period, but the experience was immeasurable. It allowed General Norman to broaden his horizons and gather fresh material for his poetry. During the early fall of 1992, at the conclusion of the aftermath of Operation Desert Storm, General Norman began to write again, but this time poetry. He found new inspiration in the works of the great writers of the Harlem Renaissance of the early twentieth century, and resolved to join in and become a part of the renaissance of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. With his first book entitled, Heart and Body, General Norman relives his experiences and the happenings of this time. He embodies his experiences in true-to-life depictions of the effects on himself and his perception through his rhythms of poetry.