NOT ANOTHER ISLAND STORY; AS TOLD BY AUNTIE GAH by Kaeiron Saunders

Saunders, a 23-year-old Biology teacher and lab technician in the Advanced Level Department of St. Anthony’s Secondary School, says, “(I’m) fascinated by interesting people, new places and written things. Creative at heart, student of science in mind.”

Judges’ Verdict: “Great piece!”

They adjudged it 1st in the 18 to 35 age category, and 1st overall in the 2017 Wadadli Pen Annual Writing Challenge.

***

“Not another island story, Auntie
I’ve heard it all before”
But every year, around this time
Auntie Gah would add more.

Gabriella was her Christian name
Affectionately called “Gah-Gah” for short
Telling stories, her favourite pastime
Making me listen, her sport

I suspected she was really my mother
She must have witnessed my birth
The details she knew about me
Were things that could not be learnt

Every story began the same way
With a throwback to the past
A tale about the good ole days
And how it saddened her that they didn’t last

We used to sleep with our doors open
And the village raised the child
Boys were taught to be chivalrous
Girls were taught to be mild

Now everyone does their own thing
Selfish as can be
Parents have kids without a ring
The teenage world revolves around “me”.

You don’t know who’s the teacher
And it’s not their age that’s the uncertain thing
You don’t know who’s the preacher
And it’s not just the congregation who sins

Now this part of the story
Was the part I hated most
Where everything turned ugly
Metaphorical gargoyles, goblins, ghosts

I wanted to interrupt her
Ask if this time we could change
Give the story a happy ending
Throw a hero into the game

So what’s the moral Auntie?
Don’t all stories have a good end?
A happily ever after?
An enemy who becomes a friend?

Hush and listen to my story
The point is not to criticize
But to show that the good within a society
Is relative to each new generation’s eyes

For a time will come, my little prodigy
When this story will be yours
You’ll look back in time happily
And face the future with remorse

You cannot see it now
Cause to the young, the present is bliss
But change is always hard to accept
So in a few years, you too will reminisce

The comforts you see as normal now
Will one day exist no more
And the comfort of your children
Their appeal to you will be a quart short of poor

The point, my dear child,
That I am trying to make
Is that this island’s story
Depends on the choices you make

Through its dreams a generation comes true
So while God holds the future
the future holds you
Responsible; be careful what you do

Don’t take it lightly
For when I glance into the past
I do it to remind you
That the present too shall pass

We’re busy making money
As though money maketh man
But our island dies slowly
Cause of death? Failure to plan

To plan a proper course of action
A map of the old which charts the new
Instead of building on the old foundation
We try to lay one anew

Listen to Auntie Gah’s story
My child, we must all receive
This island’s past lessons of wisdom
If we endeavour to all achieve

-END-

Please respect the writer’s copyright. And while we welcome feedback, please be constructive.

With thanks to our patrons, see this writer’s total prize haul below (and remember, support the businesses/individuals who support the arts):

EC$500
EC$300 (contributed by Juneth Webson)
Pen (contributed by Paperclips) + Personalized journal (Jane Seagull)
External hard drive (Cushion Club)
Painting (contributed by the artist Jennifer Meranto)
Books – Perfect Life by Eileen Pollack, New York Actually by Sarah Morgan, The Things I Should Have Told You by Carmel Harrington, Ex Factor, Summertime Dreams, The Woman Who Upped and Left by Fiona Gibson (contributed by Harper Collins)
Gifts (courtesy Raw Island Products)
Book – Unleash the Poem by Wendy Nyemaster (contributed by Brenda Lee Browne)
Two novels (contributed by the author Claudia Elizabeth Ruth Francis)
Inspirational card (from a line created and contributed by Monique S. Simon’s Caribbean Folklore Project)
Certificate x2 + Winner’s Name on the Challenge plaque (sponsored by the Best of Books)