The Making of a Criminal

The mind is a blessing and a curse that has to navigate the self-imposed debilitating structures of human life and the prison we have created, this world that we live in today. When nature gave us freely of her bounties why did we feel we had to possess it? Where is that Commonwealth that we speak about? We want to control the world’s waters, its land and their resources. Why does the object of life have to be, to wake up, make a dollar, pay bills and die? Why must one man have a mansion with thirty rooms and some of us can hardly find a place to sleep? Why should one percent of the world’s population control more than 50% of its wealth while the rest of us starve to death? There is more than enough food produced to feed the whole world I am told, yet the gluttony and wastage of many are the mal-nourished, emaciated bodies of the black, deprived children on whose fore-parents’ backs they enriched themselves.

Ask, “How the West under-developed Africa?” Why is it an atrocity when 148 Frenchmen are carnaged in a concert hall and it is not the same when countless civilians are decimated by NATO and her allies’ bombing? Why do some people get sponsorship and some don’t? Why does only a set of people get all the government contracts and others are out there catching their tails, making rust like a caterpillar left out forever in the rain? Sipsyon has it, that it’s a lodge thing; you have to belong to the brotherhood! So when you write proposals for year upon year and every time you are refused, that’s the making of a criminal mind. When a man lives in his own country and is denied earning a living in the country of his birth, that’s the ticking of a human time bomb. When they preach the lie that education is the way out of poverty and you go to school, earn your degrees and you can’t find a decent job, that’s a bomb already exploded. When the Russians and the Arabs come through by the citizenship by investment programme and grab all the good lands and the price of this liberating factor of production is out of the reach of the indigenous Saint Lucians, you had better watch out. I wish I had a Prime Minister like Ralph Gonzalves not a sell-out like Kenny Anthony. Zo pa ka tan. I am not joining any party and I will not be part of the rainbow revolution if that is what it takes to get sponsorship.

So last week the rejection came again. This time was from LUCELEC. You should remember my reporting about Digicelsome time aback. The shock was felt by many. Of course the final decision came from the directors. Reasons given: you keep seeing the same people in the slam year after year. Knock Knock: if you keep getting refused year after year and you don’t have a budget for marketing/advertising, what do you expect? Reason #2: They don’t like supporting individual initiatives. Knock Knock: must I shine some light on the vision of the power company? The many young people who have come through the doors of PonmDamouKreations and whose self-esteem has been strengthened and whose souls have found expression cannot be deemed individual advancement. The question also came up: Are these directors political? Not my asking.

Sometimes I question the reasoning of our people. Just last week I was asked by a colleague, “Would you vote for Derek Walcott if he stood for political office in Saint Lucia?” My reply was yes and my reason was because I like his stance over the years of standing up in defence of the protection of our heritage and patrimony. “Who cares about that”, was his response, “if that’s not putting money in my pocket?” He went on to say that Derek Walcott with all his notoriety has done nothing for Saint Lucia. For me just the world recognition is enough: he has nothing else to do. In fact sipsyon has it that Derek Walcott was in a position like me, when he started his journey to fame to have been refused funding for his publishing by a noted banking establishment. My understanding is that he returned to that institution years later and cursed them off. So what now if everyone wants to celebrate his glory, hypocritically, government and all and he sticks them the middle finger?

I must here mention Miss Mary Francis. Talk about a lady fighting a cause against all odds. What Mary Francis needs is not your cushion applause, not like Digicel telling me “we like your dedication to the upward mobility of the youth” and not putting their money where their mouth is. Miss Francis is a lawyer, she needs clients so she can make money (the sorry object of life) for her to survive.

I recall the story of the Arts Cafe. Many people don’t know the struggles. All they see are the end results. Sponsorship, lo and behold has to come from a foreign entity. And you talk about having a Creative Arts Ministry? Oh please!
I am an artiste and any true artiste will not betray his conscience . I have suffered quite a bit of injury through the years, including people coming and stealing your ideas, but by God’s grace I am still standing and I know He is not ready for me yet cause even on a dying bed at Victoria Hospital in November to December in 2013 I made sure that the PonmDamou Poetry Slam continued. God is great and I survived. My work here is not yet finished. A friend of mine recently remarked to me that I must really love what I do and it’s good to find your passion in life. Must be such a blessing! And I responded, “It can be your greatest curse!”. It’s a thin line between sanity and insanity. What absurd life is it when you only