Poets write inna hand middle

Poets write pon leaf

Poets write inna dem head

Is long time poets a write, a write, a write

Onnu fi know onnu history

Poets a write Kartel come outta nappy

Before Beenie, before Bounti

Poets a write from Ele was a likkle bwoy a suck him finga

And Mavado still a wear dribblela

Dem time Baby Cham neva get di ting dem

Him madda still a carry him goh a Children…

Weh onnu di deh when Ms Lou a tek kin teeth cova heart bun

The above is an abbreviated version of one of poems performed by Cherry Natural performed at the Jamaica Poetry Society monthly jam at the Edna Manley College of the Performing Arts, Tuesday evening.

In this, one of her newest works titled Is Long Time Poets A Write , Cherry Natural takes jab at some prominent dancehall exponents while celebrating the folk-wisdom of Ms Lou in whose tradition she was making her presence felt.

She often recalled that her first poem was a re-make of Miss Lou’s Dutty Tough written in 1940. And since then, she has learned how to sharpen her own thoughts and aim them at what she believes to be the injustices of the world.

It was not surprising, therefore, that the reggae poet born Marcia Wedderburn, like so many of her peers in the spoken word performance idiom, confess that Miss Lou still is her greatest motivator.

“Well, Miss Lou is one of the greatest Jamaican women weh really walked this soil. For she give a lot of young girls a sense of identity,” opined Cherry Natural.

“Me is one of them, having the flag flying high,” she attested. “Because I remember when I was a young girl, and come in contact with one of her books called Jamaica Labrish, it was like dem geh mi million dollar. So, from that I found a sense of Identity… Miss Lou has done something that we can never ever forget. And we must continue to celebrate it so that generations to come can be proud of the pivotal role she played in the development of our culture,” Cherry Natural noted.

— Basil Walters