Poems

The Words He Weaves

In Those Ten Days

A Chapbook of Poems Portraying My Mother's Final Days.

Robin's personal, self-promoted chapbook is a poetic retelling of the last ten days he spent with his mother in Barbados before she tragically passed.

Through grief, caregiving, faith, family tension, and love, these poems seek to honour her spirit and the memories no illness could ever erase.

This creative work is shared with gratitude and tenderness—may these pages help you to shoulder your grief and loneliness.

Learn how Robin weaves words to weather grief, loss and love—grab your FREE copy of his chapbook today!

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Poems | Robin A Gittens | Published Poems, Chapbook collection, Social Posts, Throwaways | AI-generated cover of chapbook 'In Those Ten Days' — showcases a dark evergreen forest

Wildfire

Charred antlers scurry

from her swift dance of scarlet

a dry cigarette

Published Poems

Taken from Robin's Manuscript, Those Colours That Coat Us, the following poems were chosen for publication in the Wheelsong Poetry Anthology 8, launched on May 1st, 2026, by Wheelsong Books, an independent publisher located in Plymouth, England. Buy your copy today and read other works from poets across the globe!

Haircut

It's time for a cut.

Another sultry,

Sunday afternoon

under the shelter

of our patio;

my listless eyes

trail an army

of ants

as they climb

walls, lime green

and grainy.

They stray from

the beaten path.

My Father unsheathes

his tools from

their plastic

slumber,

the hum of a

black mamba,

startles my

satiated daze.

In his left hand—

a pair of five-inch

scissors;

his right

guides an

over-eager

clipper.

Best leave

no stragglers

behind—like

feathers,

crumpled curls

fall to the

maroon floor

once severed.

A fresh, bright

golden fade

settles atop

my acne-plodded

face—

made to open

ornate doors

and climb

cold, corporate

ladders.

A Mother's desire—

to see her child

suited for an

upper-class

empire;

does she believe

my colorless

camouflage

will reach

ceilings

very few

ever do?

Copyright @ Robin Gittens, 2026

Peel

Protect me, for I lie in pain,

recluse and burnt—

rewards for prolonged

exposure to the sun's

scorching girth

in servitude to

a school day's

elementary event—

bedridden and

benumbed

behind curtains

weaved in velvet

preventing light's

penetration, I retreat to

solitary confinement

visitors: limited and few—

mother with her warm cuisines

and plump aloe to soothe

father with missed

schoolwork and teacups

simmering with

herbal brews

under a rumpled blanket—

a calm with a cotton chill

embellished with images

of suspended flora

I await night's freedom

while bubbling welts

form anew

each bodily turn furthers

discomfort and sorrow—

my chapped lips curl,

whispering prayers

for merciful morrows

an invasion of porcupine

pricks suffer my pores,

akin to house slaves

once struck with old

pitch-pine boards

with fervent days aplenty

I welcome salted tears of envy

allowing my crimson canvas

to heal, dead flakes discharge

while gnawed nails

scratch, scrape and peel.

The Wheelsong Poetry Anthology series features work from poets around the world. Each poem is contributed freely to support an international relief fund that helps children in crisis access shelter, food, clothing, healthcare, and education.

Published on August 11th, 2026, these two poems—from Robin's five-poem submission—are also available on the official Substack page of From The Fig Tree Press, an up-and-coming independent press in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Founded by Alaina Veronique, they endeavour to promote (and project) the voices of all those who are hungry to be heard. Four of the poems are taken from Robin's Manuscript, Those Colours That Coat Us.

Another day,

another

indigo-horizon

a boy of eleven

treks on post-

colonial steps;

Florsheim soles

clothe a pale-

skinned parry

an ocean

of minefields

amid heaven's

shapeshifting

canopy

turbulent, wet

torrents without

regret

his khaki-

covered voyage

dares the appetite

of adolescence—

shark tongues and

slanderous threats

resigned to concrete:

square-pegged galleys

cold and grey

fit for a child's angst—

weight often carried

under the scope

of a scorching sun,

he seeks shelter

from leering eyes;

silence from words

relentless and

unwise

unable to predict

tomorrow's click,

triggers—the ocean:

disturbed by stigma's

sickles and sticks.

The Ocean of Minefields

image is of an albino character akin to gandalf from Lord of the Rings, who's facing an upcoming wave akin to a brewing tsunami. A snippet of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's classic poem 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' is presented on top of the image.

The thick black cloud was cleft, and still
The Moon was at its side:
Like waters shot from some high crag,
The lightning fell with never a jag,
A river steep and wide.

— Samuel Taylor Coleridge