INSIDE

THIS

ISSUE:



The Literary Gem of the Caribbean



Lt. Governor Gregory Francis is

Crucian to the bones, born and reared

here. He attended Central High School,

which is where he was first exposed to

poetry. He said, “reading poetry was part

of English class in 10th grade.” After

graduating from Central High School, Lt.

Governor Francis elected to join the U.S.

Army, where he worked himself up

through the ranks serving as a Command

Program Support Specialist, Supervisory

Military Personal Specialist and Recruit-

ing and Retention Manager for his 27

years tenure. While serving in the army

he had the opportunity to live in Ger-

many, Puerto Rico, as well as his home-

land, the Virgin Islands.



His favorite poet is Henry

Wadsworth Longfellow, and the poem

that echoes in his mind is, “A Psalm of

Life,” the first two stanzas of which mir-

rors the Lt. Governor’s outlook on life:



Tell me not in mournful numbers,

Life is but an empty dream!



For the soul is dead that slumbers,

And things are not what they seem.



Life is real! Life is earnest!

And the grave is not its goal;



Dust thou are, to dust thou returnest,

Was not spoken of the soul.



It was always the Lt. Governor’s

intention to make something of his life

and to leave a legacy. The final stanza of

this poem serves as its own motivation.



Let us then be up and doing,

With a heart for any fate;

Still achieving, still pursuing,

Learn to labor and to wait.



Lt. Governor Francis says poetry

is, “very relevant,” and helps people to

express their feelings and explore ideas.



Lt. Governor Francis commit-

ment’s to St. Croix is unquestionable and

he is a firm supporter of education. He

attended UVI, from where he received a

certificate from the paralegal pro-

gram. He states emphatically, “poetry

should be taught in the schools.” He

wants children in the Virgin Islands to

understand how crucial it is for them to

complete their education and excel in or-

der to compete in the 21%t Century. He

urges them to achieve as much as they

can as there are more opportunities avail-

able to them than when he was a boy.



Similar to his favorite poet, Long-

fellow, who was “a devoted husband and

father with a keen feeling for the pleas-

ures of home,” Lt. Governor Francis, hap-

pily married for 32 years, is a proud fa-

ther of a son and three daughters. He rel-

ishes spending time with family and

friends. He finds poetry “relaxing,” and

hopes one day to have the time to write

more poetry, but for now he offers you his

first attempt.



Stephanie Dana Dymally

9th Grade, St. Croix Educational Complex



Favorite poem: “If’ by Rudyard Kipling.



“Writing poems make me feel open. When I write po-

ems I feel like I can let my imagination and emotions

free. It takes me on a journey. “



Mother Tree



She stands there strong and tall,



offering protection to all



from the harmful rays of the sun.



I could only be talking about one,



Mother tree.



She whispers to us as the breeze blows by,



a foreign language that sounds like a rustling cry.

She stands almost touching the great blue sky.



Narendra Balkaran

9th Grade, St. Croix Educational Complex



My favorite poet is Vybz Kartel, because he writes his lyr-

ics in a Jamaican dialect instead of proper English. This

inspires me to write my own poems in my Trinidadian

dialect and also some Jamaican vernacular.



“Writing poems makes me feel exhilarated. I am excited

to finish writing the poem, then look at it and feel really

proud of myself.”



Drugs



These things ah kill people

Dey like some real bad evil

Some ah dem ah heal

Yet some ah dem ah make yuh head spin like ah wheel

Dem ah send people down in ah grave

Dem ah even mash up de people dem who ah brave

Gangsters ah transport dem from all over de place

Gangsters ah past dem thru check point in de police face