Category Archives: black history

The ‘Meal Deal‘

What’s your favorite thing to cook?

I’m in the kitchen;

What flavours will put my tongue on the hook?

Shall attempt some spicy chicken

Yes, maybe that’s what I’ll cook

Season with jerk, salt and pepper

Rub it all in with my hands

The tasty odour already makes you feel better

Yes, these are my cooking plans

Put in the fridge to marinate

While I have a sip of wine,

My stomach starts to assimilate

That food that is oh so fine

Coconut, spring onion added to rice

Topped with red kidney beans

Left to simmer, the smell sweet n nice

My senses now are very, very keen

The veg is in the steamer

The fried plantain is sizzling in the pan

I’m kicking it just like Bieber

That’s me, the ‘kitchen master’ man

Now it’s time to serve

Your food utopia on a plate

Patiently waiting, you hold your nerve

Your tastebuds put you right at heaven’s gate

I won’t take credit

I just hope I’ve made you feel

But you are now in my debit

With my very special “Meal Deal”

Keeping things in MIND…(how do you cope in todays frantic, often brutal & unforgiving world)

For protection many will seek only the people or the process close to home. The ones you can trust. In effect you have to put yourself in a ‘bubble’ to keep out the ‘rays of destruction’ firing at you from all angles.

Well being is touted often and maybe in some people’s eyes far too often. Yet everyone has the propensity to ‘suffer’ from any type of instability. As it’s such a personal journey what affects one person is water if a ducks back to someone else. Still you treat each case as necessary. Maybe little little ditty reminds us all that it could be ‘me’ next or at some point in the future.

The Bubble

 

Something isn’t quite right

I cannot tell you what;

Tormenting me all day and night

Like that buzzing fly, I need to swat

 

I rack my torrid, fragile brain

Hoping to find some respite

No umbrella nearby and here comes the rain

A creeping darkness now envelopes the light

 

How do I get break free?

What help can I seek?

Is the answer; a glass of vodka martini?

Or will someone listen, as my words leak

 

Being in a bubble keeps you sane

Locked inside a delirium of fantasy and awe

The next addiction is sweet like sugar cane

A damaged mind plays tricks and is never a bore

 

As I sit here and ponder the winding route

Of where to plunder next;

Where is the map of support I can salute?

You can send that to me by text

 

I can read it, and will probably weep

My eyes, heart, filled with trepidation

Out of my skin my words begin to seep

Please defibrillate me into resuscitation

 

With a heavy, laden load I submit

Over to you to pick me up

I hope you’ll never ever quit

Lead me to once again, to drink from the ‘happy’ cup

 

 

Black History/B.L.M. Vol 1 – October 2024 – J W NELSON

Leave a reply

Commemorating Rosa Parks Day | SFMTA
Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. - Wikipedia
Jesse Owens vs Adolf Hitler, Berlin 1936 Olympics | The German who helped  humiliate the Fuhrer
The Story of Phillis Wheatley. By Elizabeth Warren | by Team Warren | Medium
Muhammad Ali | Biography, Bouts, Record, & Facts | Britannica
Oscar win proved Sidney Poitier was second to none
Review: Marvel's 'Black Panther' Is Politically Passionate Blockbuster  Filmmaking

‘There’s no mystery to Black History‘ (that’s my little poetic saying). Parents from Jamaica. I have traced my ancestry back to the point when slavery was just abolished (around 1834).

And now nearly 200 years later in the UK my son and daughter are just learning about Black History in school. Wow. Is this ‘Titantic’ ship starting to turn? Who know, hopefully for everyone of colour, wherever we are all are, whatever status we hold, just maybe there are slivers of light appearing amidst the once long and eternally dark tunnel, that we have been treading.

As a would be poet, below is my first take on the many wonderful black inspirational people that have had endure; so people like me, don’t have to as much. More to follow throughout October (and maybe beyond) on other topics.

WHO ARE WE? (starting with the past)

We could be the person on the bus

Your name may be have been Rosa Parkes

Your life made to suffer by the colour of your skin

Yes; they have tried to keep us hidden; into the dark

We were the people without a voice

But Martin Luther made them hear

Look what they did to our dear proud brother

Because he made ‘them’ see what they all feared

We are the ones that move fast

Yes; Jesse Owens showed the dictator this

In the face of complete and utter oppression

It’s something that hasn’t quite fallen over the precipice 

We have own Marvel Man from the past

No wheelchair in sight; but his name has an X

A voice for black empowerment

And contrary to many he wasn’t always vexed

A personal mentor; the first black female poet

If you don’t know; Phillis Wheatley was her name

George Washington recognised the talent

For every poet; she should be in your ‘hall of fame’

We need to be like our once enslaved Frederick Douglass

He fought to support those via the abolition of slavery

Putting pen to paper for all to read

His life, his very own Black History

We are the ones that Marshall the Good

Overturn the wrong for the right

Winning against segregation for the learning to occur

We thank him for providing; ‘out of darkness’ we too now have light

We are among the ‘greatest’ ones that had to rumble

The man with fists and feet of flight

Yes Cassius/Muhammed Ali knew how to move

You couldn’t stop him talking either; any day or night

We are the ones that have had to ACT

Mr. Poitier the consummate pro; won an Oscar

Imagine that in an era for his accolade

Showed that black people could also raise ‘the bar’

We should be Harriet Tubman the saviour

Literally saving over 300 enslaved souls

Nursing her community to a better educated life

She was dedicated, selfless and bold

We are the forerunner’s to make things happen

From a seat of power to make the change

Shirley Chisholm started the political race

And now her stepping stones has put us on the front page

We are the entrepreneur’s with a million in the bank

Madam C J Walker knew how to make ‘hair pay’

Making jobs for over 3,000 people at that time

Means we continue to use her genius every single day 

We are everyone, everything, just like you

We have beautiful, hair, colour, skin and eyes

We are proud, clever, funny with intelligence

We are here, we are all together, let’s all keep aiming for that prize…

Share this:

BLUE SKY THINKING….

On a random sunny afternoon, sometimes thoughts, ideas, musings from the past, present and future merge as you look skyward. The deepest blue sky and potent yellowy sun start to speak to you in rhyme. So you close your eyes and respond in kind…maybe with something like this…

Sitting in the afternoon sun

I breathe deeply with heat on my back

Not a cloud my eyes can see

My pet dog lies strewn with comfort


The trees sway this way and that

Their shadow cast spookily across my lawn

A small insect escapes the blades

As I watch it struggling to find a path


To dream as I do

It only happens when the sky is eternally blue

A cool breeze refuses to share it’s energy

And supply me, my dog with sufficient air


To feel my dreams develop beyond

An horizon that is impossible to view

How the mind works to supply hope

To those who dare to dream

When sky becomes eternally blue

Radiating heat from the sun

Splatters on my face

On my back on my neck

It’s the suns way of a loving embrace


Yes I dream still of nothing

Into the eternal blue yonder

To find no answers as such

Light years from perdition

I hope and can only wonder


Enjoying the reflective glare

Squinting with delight not derision

My blue sky that is above me;

Could it mean I’m looking;

Directly into the heavens?


A star; yes the celestial being

A yellow ball of sublime heat

And perfunctory light

I sit here to worship your power

With every bone and sinew


The blue sky motivates the thinker

Metastasises the brain like an engine

Churns thoughts, hopes, the unseen shadow

Eyes open wide now as the truth

Waits for you unbidden

Black History/B.L.M. Vol 1 – October 2024 – J W NELSON

‘There’s no mystery to Black History‘ (that’s my little poetic saying). Parents from Jamaica. I have traced my ancestry back to the point when slavery was just abolished (around 1834).

And now nearly 200 years later in the UK my son and daughter are just learning about Black History in school. Wow. Is this ‘Titantic’ ship starting to turn? Who know, hopefully for everyone of colour, wherever we are all are, whatever status we hold, just maybe there are slivers of light appearing amidst the once long and eternally dark tunnel, that we have been treading.

As a would be poet, below is my first take on the many wonderful black inspirational people that have had endure; so people like me, don’t have to as much. More to follow throughout October (and maybe beyond) on other topics.

WHO ARE WE? (starting with the past)

Commemorating Rosa Parks Day | SFMTA

We could be the person on the bus

Your name may be have been Rosa Parkes

Your life made to suffer by the colour of your skin

Yes; they have tried to keep us hidden; into the dark

Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. - Wikipedia

We were the people without a voice

But Martin Luther made them hear

Look what they did to our dear proud brother

Because he made ‘them’ see what they all feared

Jesse Owens vs Adolf Hitler, Berlin 1936 Olympics | The German who helped  humiliate the Fuhrer

We are the ones that move fast

Yes; Jesse Owens showed the dictator this

In the face of complete and utter oppression

It’s something that hasn’t quite fallen over the precipice

We have own Marvel Man from the past

No wheelchair in sight; but his name has an X

A voice for black empowerment

And contrary to many he wasn’t always vexed

The Story of Phillis Wheatley. By Elizabeth Warren | by Team Warren | Medium

A personal mentor; the first black female poet

If you don’t know; Phillis Wheatley was her name

George Washington recognised the talent

For every poet; she should be in your ‘hall of fame’

We need to be like our once enslaved Frederick Douglass

He fought to support those via the abolition of slavery

Putting pen to paper for all to read

His life, his very own Black History

We are the ones that Marshall the Good

Overturn the wrong for the right

Winning against segregation for the learning to occur

We thank him for providing; ‘out of darkness’ we too now have light

Muhammad Ali | Biography, Bouts, Record, & Facts | Britannica

We are among the ‘greatest’ ones that had to rumble

The man with fists and feet of flight

Yes Cassius/Muhammed Ali knew how to move

You couldn’t stop him talking either; any day or night

Oscar win proved Sidney Poitier was second to none

We are the ones that have had to ACT

Mr. Poitier the consummate pro; won an Oscar

Imagine that in an era for his accolade

Showed that black people could also raise ‘the bar’

We should be Harriet Tubman the saviour

Literally saving over 300 enslaved souls

Nursing her community to a better educated life

She was dedicated, selfless and bold

We are the forerunner’s to make things happen

From a seat of power to make the change

Shirley Chisholm started the political race

And now her stepping stones has put us on the front page

We are the entrepreneur’s with a million in the bank

Madam C J Walker knew how to make ‘hair pay’

Making jobs for over 3,000 people at that time

Means we continue to use her genius every single day 

Review: Marvel's 'Black Panther' Is Politically Passionate Blockbuster  Filmmaking

We are everyone, everything, just like you

We have beautiful, hair, colour, skin and eyes

We are proud, clever, funny with intelligence

We are here, we are all together, let’s all keep aiming for that prize…