Buxton Shippy

Buxton Shippy Poems

The lights bend
As a single person approaches
The sparsely furnished hallway
As if they felt him.
...

If you are in pain,
Let me say a prayer,
Then take you to a healer.
If you are hungry,
...

Don't let the pen lay idle
Where innocent blood shed;
Where there are starving
Children to be fed.
...

Every day, afternoon,
The priests lead a procession
From the alter to the end of the nave
To minister to the saints the Good News;
...

A single rose buds in total darkness,
Rises above despondency.
If I were a rose,
I would be a prayer for the hurting;
...

I am a solid black
The mystery ridiculed
And misunderstood
On the pages.
...

Everywhere I look
I see you and me
The poor;
Easy to praise
...

When all things fail, undecipherable,
Read the scriptures,
Strength there you'll find.
Master of hills,
...

In the midst of terror
Dry bones sing
Earth vomits
Innocent blood shed
...

He lays in repose
With a Purple Heart.
Fought gallantly,
With a purpose
...

As tightly as I held,
The moss-laden parapet,
I still feared slipping
To the assumed ground,
...

My Unfading Rose,
Heal my heart
To love the least deserving,
To feed a wailing child,
...

Touched by Time;
They harnessed the sun.
Now, people to people,
Pay to see.
...

Bewildered and devoured
by a sea of circumstances.
My mind throttled,
braced today
...

They stumbled over each other
to reach the only exit
from the dark and putrid room.
Here they had been confined
...

Dear friend
I just found out
You died a terrible death
My heart sunk
...

Our lives crossed paths
At work and at school
You loved the lines,
Spaces and planes.
...

He became acquainted
with the spirit
at an after-party;
the disc jockey changed
...

19.

The storm, fierce and unrelenting
Still He slept in the midst of its rage.
Terrified, they begged Him:
He spoke and the storm obeyed.
...

Hear o nations
The Lord is with you,
Hear o Zion
The rivers are overflowing
...

Buxton Shippy Biography

Buxton Shippy was born in 1955 in Montego Bay, Jamaica. He was raised by his grandmother Hepseba Richards and his aunt Rosalyn Hughes after his grandmother died in 1962. He attended Albert Town Secondary School and Montego Bay Technical Institute. After graduating from technical school he went to Kingston, Jamaica, where he worked as a Draftsman for seven years. While he was living in Kingston he attended the Jamaica School of Drama now Edna Manley College of the Performing Arts for three years. It was during this time that the group Poets in Unity was formed. Buxton joined the group and performed solo and collectively on radio and in other settings. In 1984 he emigrated to the United States to study architecture. He earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Boston Architectural College. He worked as an Architectural Designer for Deck House Incorporated for fourteen years and for Hezekiah Pratt and Associates for five years. He is now Principal at Buxton Lloyd Shippy + Associates. Buxton is married to Phyllis Ann Wilson and has three children: Buxton II, Phylicia and Phebe.)

The Best Poem Of Buxton Shippy

A Silent Place

The lights bend
As a single person approaches
The sparsely furnished hallway
As if they felt him.

The corridors are filled
With a deafening silence,
Before they knelt to pray.
And the suspended linens
Sway with a gentle wind
As the bell tells time
With its ceremonial ringing.

A brother, with a food cart,
Moved from cell to cell
And slip the daily rations
Through the windows
Set in the paneled doors.

They are not seen.
They are not heard.
They are situated
In a silent place.

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