Oral Presentation

Good Morning Assessors, My name is Kymani Douglas, My group theme is

‘Social Issues’, however, my individual topic is ‘The Effects of Poverty and
Homelessness in Jamaica’. I will be doing an oral presentation of a free verse
poem about the perspective of a young boy named Lee who lives with only his
mom in deep poverty. The poem will have a ratio of 80:20 in ‘Standard English’
and ‘Jamaican Creole’ respectively. I will now begin.

Lee’s Life
It's rough out here man,
The amount of people who walk by without batting an
Eye, it's just rough out here man. The puddle of despair every day As my mind
gets muddled and the struggles roll I try to make a little money but, it’s just
tough in these streets man.

Going from street to street isn’t fun

The money in my pocket adds up to one paycheck from my mom
Trying to get food or she’ll die even earlier and now
My tears are rock hard from crying on the floor.

Went back home saw mom on the phone

She was calling my aunt with a dying breath
But no response and there she was left dead on the bed
Oh, my hands raised to my head as I witnessed a stream of red, from her side,
She really did it, She really did it, she went and committed suicide Was it out
of pride, was it all for me this time because I didn’t want this What I wanted,
was more time.

I hate it, I hate it, I want to replace it

This life is against me and I’m losing my morality
I’m gonna steal that pouch and all the money inside then sell drugs
Even if it is a crime, this life already wronged me,
So now I’m gonna make it mine.
Now I’m hanging out with real gangsters
I’m spinning blocks and now mi a shoot up docks
Take any ahn everyting, wul a dem yute a get chop.
I have nowhere to go but I’m on cloud 9, even without a home
I plan to get by and mi definitely nah do the time.

That’s what I thought, I figured I would get away, thought maybe

This was my turn to play in this game called life
After all, for me, it was only filled with pain and strife
My gang gave up on me they tried to kill me with a knife and end it I
ran so far and so fast till my hunger grew and my breath was at its last I
thought about the past, the future is this how I’ll spend it?
Here on the roadside? is this is how I die?

Before I closed my eyes, someone came before me

I took one look to realise it was my aunt, the one who had betrayed me I never
liked her much and she never liked me, she claimed I was the problem She
blamed everything on me, but with no voice left and no sight in my eyes I just
wanted live, even if, it was just a painful lie

I reached out my hand with all my might and

I could feel the fear in her movements, It made me more fearful I
tried to call out help! but I didn’t hear a reply, the closer I looked I
saw a white light, shining so bright, it overcame the night,
When I came to, there she was, the only person, that I ever loved It was my
mom she grabbed and held me then said, “It’s safe now, it’s safe now lee”. This
concludes my presentation.