Pinks Alley Poet releases anthology

Generation X may be the term used to describe those in their twenties but to Leroy “The Grandmaster” Young, Generation X is an anthology of over thirty-five of his poems. “The Grandmaster” who had his poetic beginnings as a rapper with Belize’s own Fresh Breeze Crew, launched his second anthology across the street from his Pinks Alley neighborhood at the Fort George Education Center this afternoon. According to “the Grandmaster” he writes mainly about his surroundings.

Leroy “The Grandmaster” Young, Poet

“I used to wash car by Fort George and on a Friday business usually bright and I was sitting when a piece of paper and pencil blow by and I pick up that piece of paper and I wrote my first piece of poetry. Problem what is the problem? Who is the problem? Why is there a problem? You see the problem is this, the problem is our own problem. And from there it just clicks off.”

Arreini Palacio, Reporting

“I notice you have one main theme: poor people’s suffering, poor people’s cry, oppression. Why is that?”

Leroy “The Grandmaster” Young

“You see the area where I come from dah stress, pressure, dah like wan dog eat dog world. I tell you straight up Majestic Lane, if you standup in an ants nest they bite you because you disturb them, but I can’t see the love, they don’t have any kinda love. The pressure that I mi deh under dah no joke. One gial got pickney and seh they gone dah America and left him with grandma and that dah pressure. Boy drop out of school, start to give his grandma pressure, end up dah Ramada seka murder. Grandma couldn’t tek it, two days later she pass away seka high blood pressure, pressure, pressure.”

Despite all the publicity surrounding his work these days The Grandmaster has not forgotten where he came from. With every purchase of the Generation X anthology, Young will donate a dollar to needy people in Pinks Alley. The books are available at either the Image Factory or from The Grandmaster himself.