Submitted by DAVID COMISSIONG, Citizen of Barbados
If the people of Barbados were to make an inventory of the national assets of their country, Brownes Beach would be right up there at the top of the list!
Not only is Brownes Beach one of the most physically beautiful beaches in the world, but it is also a place of social beauty– a beach on which one can witness and experience the authentic culture and spirit of the Barbadian people.
Now that– in the spurious name of “progress” – — Brownes Beach is being threatened with destruction, I would like to urge ALL Barbadians to visit this unique beach as a matter of urgency, and to walk the entire length of the beach and absorb the “Brownes Beach experience” for themselves.
They will discover the “poetry” of Brownes Beach, and will come to the realization that we have to fight– to raise our voices, to protest, to agitate– in order to preserve OUR Brownes Beach!
Kamau Brathwaite is our greatest Bajan poet and actually grew up on Brownes Beach. Here is one of his poetical masterpieces about:-
BROWNES BEACH
Of all the beaches on the bay
browns beach was the proudest place
big respectable houses of big respectable people
looked onto the beach at browns bay
the pilot live there
mr queen the big able pilot who know
when the big ships came and went far out
in the bay with his tell-tail flag till his boat
went down where you watch
from the shore to only the tall-tail flag
that flow till the big ships came
mr queen was cock of the walk on the beach
for he brought great pride to the place
and his boat in the bay is the where-to-meet
for all the boys on the beach about
they would splash with feathers of foam at their feet
and climb the gunwale of this meetingplace
they look like ants on a piece of cake
and they sit and are happy like birds in a bush
mr queen the pride of the place who doesn’t
like ants nor birds
in his bush
would look from the window of his upstairs
room and call to his man in de yard below
to chase the boys out-a-de boat
his man have a limp and a wave of hand
as he rush down the beach
to do what the beard-
man said
…hoi…
he shouted
across the smooth Sunday water where the girls
played shrill
…hoiiiiii…
he shouted
across the blue wind-whipped water to the boat
where all the boys from the beaches were still
hoiiii…there…you black #*&##!!! bastards…,
…get out…a de #*&## boat…
and his voice from the shore is a shake
of their cake
a stone in the bush
and
chow
went the water when the beachboys jump
and the water wear wreaths where they disappear
and
wham
went the water when the land-boys jump from the
rocking boat
and they splash-up vines as they reappear
when adam jump he see the akee tree
and the tamarin tree with the man-face seeds
and the coconut tree in the neighbour yard
and the shine on the galvanize roofs
that look at the bay on browns beach
and the men on the beach building pyramids
and the flash of the bat of the boys playin
cricket and the girls playin shrill
in that part of the sea that ended with wish
on the shore
and
the water went
chow
as he close his eyes
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