BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – ISLAND XPRESSIONS’ creator Samal ‘Z-Dan’ Duggins wrote a poem based on the January 12, 2010 earthquake that caused great devastation in Haiti.
Titled Haitian Empowerment-Lets Participate or H.E.L.P, Duggins paints a melancholy picture of the devastation that claimed over 200 000 lives, left over one million homeless and destroyed many buildings that will cost the nation countless millions of dollars to rebuild.
The first verse in the poem reads, “What would you do if you felt the earth rumbling, buildings crumbling, the ground open up taking every place you thinking ‘bout running in?”
Duggins said that these are his feelings towards what happened and how he has observed persons responding to the situation. He declared that he had used reverse psychology in the poem.
“I allow you to put yourself in the situation and start to ask yourself, ‘How would you feel if this was you going through all of this.’ Hopefully, that would encourage people to realise how important it is to help,” he said.
“…Trying to find a place to hide so you gotta hustle, but then you hear a baby crying somewhere in the rubble, thinking that you can save it if you had some muscle, but in the second that you left, the building next to you collapsed and that was the last thought you had as you took your last breath…” is another verse in the poem.
Duggins said the poem is a freestyle verse to a song that he was asked to write, which features an artiste by the name of Grassroots. At the end of the poem, Duggins speaks about “some speculating that this is a new type of warfare”.
He said that he watched a DVD a few weeks before the earthquake occurred about America that had bought a Tecton Plate Shifter, which was created by the late Albert Einstein.
“So it’s basically an old weapon that America had for a while. And after the earthquake I herad the Venezuelean President saying that America had caused the earthquake, and that gave me goosebumps,” he said.
“When you look at what’s going on, certain places get hit hard but others don’t get touched and it’s unbalanced. So I touched on that part in the poem when I say, ‘Some speculating this is a new type of warfare’.”
Duggins said that the situation with Haiti and what casued them to be a poor nation is something they had been battling for years but were ignored.
“They fought for freedom and black leadership and was suppressed and ignored by the rest of the black community. We turned a blind eye and that’s been going on for years…Haiti being neglected,” he said.
In the last few lines of the poem, Duggins urges people to show care by really doing something positive and to not forget about Haiti.
“It’s not just about bringing them back from the earthquake, but as a people, because it’s beyond the earthquake. Haiti been needing help for a while now,” he said.
“…Now is it really fear that you knelt and begged the world for help years and years before the earthquake was felt and nobody listened…” is the line that ended the poem.
Duggins established Island Xpressions two years ago as a platform for individuals to express themselves on various issues though poetry and the spoken word, and sometimes through song.
The event is held on the last Thursday of each month at Ma Pau.
To watch the video of Duggins reciting the poem, click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65-L51b5hKI&feature=player_embedded
