Chapelton, Jamaica

The sun-remembered beggarsdon’t beg no more. Noon, the fluting blind manwalks into his bible with frail fingers. Reliefcomes with the blue khaki riverof Friday high schoolers to feed and feedon the restaurant heartof town. In the market, the vendors mobthat one stray customer while outside the black bustof the Maroon Cudjoe looks down on the whiteCatholic Church graves which makegreat seats for lunchers who laugh over the dead.Beside the rainbow shop, a broken standpipegushes all day, where kids from the primary schoolcome to cool their fried feet as brownpalms wave from the court yard.In frontof the white police stationtwo shirtless men fight overthe job of emptyinga garbage bin; the powerless clock towercannot sing and the defeated man,plotting murder, watches peacefulclouds the cruel sun, a black butterflywrithing in the wind.