“There is no need to reinvent the wheel,” we hear clever people remark publicly. This though is usually not the issue. Having the wheel or being one is admirable – commendable. To what our wheel is attached is usually what matters in relation to where we are, coupled with where we need to get to.

Is the wheel we are or to which we’re attached, one of three tricycle wheels - one of two bicycle wheels – a unicycle wheel – one of a car’s four tires – truck tires or bus tires (pumped up or flat?) – is it a wheel of an aircraft (necessary for take off – for landing?) or is our wheel a bare bicycle rim propelled by its owner running along behind it – a reconfigured clothes hanger in hand to guide it?

Or is your wheel the earth – one of the wheels of the universe, spun by the divine – by divine law kept in motion? Or a coin tossed into the air, spinning – heads you win – tails you lose?


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2007
Sunday 10:36 p.m.
15/april/07

why, oh God
has poetry always lived
next door to poverty

why is poetry not relied upon more
drugs and alcohol
relied upon less


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2007
8:35 a.m. 20/april/07


earth is a marble,
as delicate as an eye, ours now

not cracked,
unscorched, unscratched,
passed to us in tact

we too must pass it on
instead we step on it


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2007
4:24 p.m. 25/april/07



woman I’m as comfortable
in or in with as I am out or out with

I seek one someone to go with

for too long, going with some one
I’m reluctant or outright ashamed
to be seen with

what a fix this is, what a fix I’m in,
I’ve been in, half of all my days


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2007
9:09 p.m. 25/april/07



cold cheese on hot, homemade bread,
sweating like lovers in bed


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2007
12:22 a.m. 14/april/07


Lord God, I’m happy

I must take a deep breath,
must breathe normally

no need hold my breath, awaiting Godot
happiness here with me/within me/beside me

must avoid being besides myself with joy
must sip what I have, must make it last

laugh too loud, I crack, fall apart,
collapse into sadness/into forlorn,
fall once again into emotional hard times

wish good times to roll and never cease
like the Ginger Bread Man


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2007
1:40 a.m. 18/april/07



sea gulls soaked in the rain
upon the dock
as still as if dead

others skillful, fearless,
fishing the choppy harbor waters

upon the dock they alight
or flapping their wings,
come to life and fly off


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2007
5:27 p.m. 12/april/07

Goats In My Pen
[poem for April]

open poem
let me enter
breathe and be born

goats have horns
with veins in them
nerve endings, feelings

hair and toe nails, finger nails
no blood in these
unless pulled out
yanked out

pain in poems
some poems soothe

rain in poems
some poems weep

some friends keep
others spoil like milk
sour like milk

smell sour, taste sour
these we outpour down the drain

smelly ram goats
come from Long Island
on the mail boat
in my back yard
tied to a tree

baa baa, for what

bucket of water I provided
overturned with a rope
stretched taut
as a neck in a noose


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2007
5:27 a.m. 17/april/07

Are politicians and politics the solution or part of the problem?

To inspire people to aspire and to help them to achieve is noble. These might be part of what speeches and political activity achieve. Additionally though and possibly to a greater degree – and this is what concerns me – is the nonsense, the foolishness in people which politics and politicking release and never put back.

Elections are a popularity contests. How therefore is elected politician to tell who has elected him that they are not free to, in celebration, act out however, as loudly and as freely as he or she wishes?

Everybody votes and for that vote wants his – wants her cup of abandonment.

Some see voting as the privilege it is - as an opportunity to participate in democracy and in governance – an opportunity to be a fine citizen of a fine country. Too many among our masses though, seem to imagine that their participation in democracy and in electing a government provides them the right to act out however foolishly. To do sh** is their idea of freedom – irresponsible behavior.

It is as if being in charge freed one from the need to be pleasant everywhere and in every which way, rather than offensive. This is for me where break down arises in national life – blatantly offensive – antisocial behavior with no on to say anything to who perpetrates such acts and such activity.

Politicians seem intricately connected to such persons – such elements. They stir them up and seem unable ever to stir them down – unable after elections to put the lid back on after taking them off to release euphoria.

When though is the party over? When do we go back to the serious business of governance – of being a good citizen – of being a country and not just a travesty of one?

Is this a weakness of democracy - this element of popularity – the need to appease, to please all without being able to emphasize good behavior, right action? Who is to shout to who is out of line, “School yourself!”

I heard a mother say about parenting: “With my children, I am in no popularity contest.” Her job, she sees, is to be doing what is best for her children as well as demanding the very best from them. This in our country I find is not done.

Self-discipline and high standards I find are not demanded of Bahamians by everybody in leadership – speaking as if with one voice.

We are loosely and slackly governed. Release is what is emphasized when much of what is released should be tied down. Every degree of antisocial behavior has to be and should be discouraged for the good of all. Instead outcry comes only in response to what is most extreme – rape, murder – comes only when one is too far gone.

9:56 p.m. April 13, 2007

how one we are when we hug
two teddy bears

stuffed animals are easy to love

Guy Fawkes, full of straw
what to stuff verse with, hearts with

a candle has a wick to light
hearts have wicks to ignite

throw them full of kerosene
into the enemy’s hay loft
into their barn full of horses


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2007
8:09 p.m. 2/avril/07