GENE

Worl alway same      me rekon
nuttin much-change      Dere alway green
melon-anana     Alway yelow-sea

Me granee she live-be twennysix
wit ray hair      Me tel me-babee
we not die-soon      We be-like granee –

we live-long     An me caree-she
for look-see thru eave-for look
yelow-sea      An me tel-she

wen de-Life tek-you you com
yelow like you fall-in yelow-sea     An
you stopp      Dat all

An me tel-she bout ol-peepol
hoo-liv wen Worl dri      Me tel-she
storee bout way ting used-be

wen ol-peepol walk in air an walk
wid weel    An way dem ol-peepol talk
in riddl     An way dem stepp in someting

dey call Gene    Yeh     Dem mess-up
reel-bad someting call Gene     An dem
rising-now for meet-us in yelow-sea

An me-babee say – Dees storee
all troo?  Dem ol-peepol all stopp?   All
com-yelow like yelow-sea?    Butt me

know nuttin mor    Cept
dey bildin tall    Dey much-like carr
much-like Wor    Dem tuch ev-where

dem stepp ev-where     Butt
me tel-me-babee – me-tink
dem ol-peepol dem juss-walk

one Gene too-farr

 

forthcoming in 'The Bone Ship', © Mario Petrucci 2025, used by permission of the author

The free tracks you can enjoy in the Poetry Archive are a selection of a poet’s work. Our catalogue store includes many more recordings which you can download to your device.

Close