Cleansing Poem

Rememburin’ Queen ‘Lizbeth

By Cheryl Gittens-Jones

Stanin’ up dey waitin

Fuh Queen ‘Lizbeth

Tuh pass was nuh joke

We all wuh gaduh by the

Side uh de road

Panama hat shaduhwin we

Li’l faces

Black shiny li’l faces

Uniform Pleat sharp wid starch

An’ white blouse bli-nin

A long line uh li’l boys an’ gurls

Wid teachuhs directin’we

Tuh wun side uh de road

Wile we taukin’bout

Wuh we had fuh school meals

Jus’ befouh we cum out tuh stan’

By de roadside

By de time Queen ‘Lizbeth turn de kornuh

We was all smart an’straiten out

Nuh bandy lines

All smilin’ li’l black faces…

Waitin’ tuh see de lily wite

Wummun who han’ does move like

Clockwork—

Who smile look like um paste on

De culuhful bajan pulice glidin’ in

Black an’ wite wid red stripe---

All nice and clean lookin’

Wid we black faces---smilin’

We fuhget ‘bout de 2 o’clock sun

An’ how perspiration causin’ we clothes tuh cling

We o’ly wun’uh see Queen ‘Lizbeth

Wid she wite, wite teet an’ glove

Blue black li’l faces all shiny an’ grinnin’

Glad fuh de lily white Queen we hear ‘bout tuh grace

We school districk

Smilin’

* * * * *

Please note: (This poem written in bajan dialect a mixture of Africanisms, English and Scottish. The Cleansing uses the dialect intermittently throughout.)

Source: The Cleansing uses the dialect intermittently throughout.)

Cheryl Gittens-Jones is wife, mother, poet, author of play Shaduhs Uh Voodoo. She plans to adopt twin nieces orphaned by AIDS. She migrated illegally to the USA in 1987 to pursue dreams of higher education. Cheryl gained success and redemption through courage, tenacity, perseverance and faith in Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism.

In 1995 Cheryl transferred from Cal University of Pennsylvania to Mount Holyoke College, MA. Now a resident of Manchester, CT, and a Mount Holyoke Alum Frances Perkins Class '99.

Brief description of the cover of The Cleansing

The cover is a self-portrait in woodcut entitled “exposed.” The image depicts me kneeling on the bare hard floor in the nude staring at my image in a roughly hewn mirror, which is a representation of the Gohonzon, Mandela used in Nicheren Daishonin's Buddhism. This image depicts many things. From my perspective the image represents vulnerability, innocence, honesty, self-revelation, and a willingness to face truth and the ramifications of that truth.

This image is about human revolution. Human revolution is a term used in our Buddhist practice to signify, transformation and inner change or to change one’s karma by actively pursuing higher ideals in one’s life by fully participating, or being fully present and aware of one’s karmic responsibility.

The far left corner where the reflection of the floor cannot be seen represents a blind spot, a negative space, and a place of spirituality or things I cannot perceive with my naked human eye but, yet, are fully present in my life experience. As a result, the floorboards are not reflected back in the mirror. The roughness of the wooden mirror depicts the harsh realities, which confronted me as I traversed the road from illegitimacy to legitimacy on all levels, i.e., psychologically, spiritually, mentally, and physically.