Written piece
One Riddim: A Caribbean Tapestry
Eunicia Delpeche
St Vincent and the Grenadines
About this piece
One Riddim: A Caribbean Tapestry is my celebration of Caribbean unity. Though each island has its own culture and identity, we are woven together by shared history, resilience, music, and heritage.
From fine-threaded lines,
woven from pure white cotton,
mixed with sweat, blood and tears,
connecting every generation through,
culture, believes, religion, dance and melody.
From the beating of the drums,
to the echoing of the steel pans,
swinging frocks paints the air with colorful notes,
syncing perfectly to one RIDDIM.
Though our words might be different,
our hearts beat with one sound .
Each country still its own.
From the Gem of the Antilles,
to Land of 365 beaches,
to The island of paradise,
to Gem of the Caribbean,
to Where the reef meets the rainforest.
From The nature isle,
to The spice isle,
to The sugar isle,
to The land of many waters,
to The land of wood and water.
And let’s not forget,
the Helen of the West Indies,
and the land of calypso and steelpan .
Colonization buried much of our culture,
but we won’t let remnants of it’s mentality,
separate and segregate us.
One people,
many island,
one RIDDIM,
one song.