The August Leaders' Meeting by Sir Philip Sherlock

The August Leaders' Meeting (From Shout for Freedom), is the final poem for this month from Jamaican poet, Sir Philip Sherlock.

The August Leaders' Meeting

Is a sign of the times, is a signal to we
when we hear the murmuring murmuring growing
growing and spreading and every eye turning
and ever voice lifting in cries to we Father.
Is sign that freedom is coming.
Just two days back I stand and watch
the Greenwich Big Gang moving to the field
and I see how the driver careful with him whip
him beat the weaker but don't touch the stronger
and I say to myself 'The driver know say time
is longer far than any rope and rope is running out,'
and as I watch, I feel the morning breeze,
the freedom breeze begin to blow
and then the revelation vision grip me,
how the kings of the earth and the rich men and mighty
how the chief men and leaders and slave and the freemen
hide in the rocks like coney and bawl out
and plead with the rocks
and plead with the mountain to fall down upon them
and hide them,
'Fall down upon we,' them call out, 'and hide we
from the terrible face of the Lord, oh hide we
from the Lamb on the throne, oh hide we
for now is the judgment when Massa God rise up in wrath
and who can stand up in that day?

Copyright  Philip Sherlock 1987

From Our Yard. Jamaican Poetry Since Independence. Jamaica 21 Anthology Series. Edited by Pamela Mordecai. Institute of Jamaica Publications Limited. 1987

Caribbean Review of Books - Ishion Hutchinson, Kei Miller and Christian Campbell

Thought I would share these interesting reviews of Ishion Hutchinson's Far District, Christian Campbell's Running the Dusk, and Kei Miller's A Light Song of Light by the Caribbean Review of Books (CRB).

Here are the reviews by CRB's Nicolette Bethel.

Both Ishion Hutchinson and Christian Campbell were previously featured as poets of the month on this blog.

Fellowships for African and Caribbean Writers

If you are a Caribbean or African writer seeking writing fellowships, check out the Bread of Loaf's Michael and Marylee Fairbanks International Fellowship. This fellowship is specifically for African and Caribbean writers.

The Bread of Loaf's website also has details on other writing opportunities.

Well, another month has gone by, and tomorrow, I will wrap up this month's focus on the multi-talented Jamaica, Sir Philip Sherlock.

Stay tuned in February for more Caribbean poetry, and remember that I love hearing from you!

Middle Passage, by Philip Sherlock

Middle Passage
Written for Frank Collymore on his 80th birthday

Cradles
On the lullaby sea
His black body, starred
With salt water.

Face downwards,
Free and at home
in the gentle salt water
He floats by the razor-sharp reef, looks down
On gardens of branching coral,
On thickets of cup-shaped sponges,
Using the names the fishermen use,
Seafingers and horse sponge,
Elephants ears and mermaids gloves
With jewelled fish at hide-and-seek.
Happy the world of sea and sun,
His black body starred with salt
Sings its way to the waiting sand
And the dancing leaves of the almond tree
And the sea-grapes shade.

Free and at home
He matches his mood
To the luck of the day;
Black body cleaving
The green wave curling,
Sending his laughter
Aloft on the Trades
Flying feel weaving

A pattern of speed
Sea crabs scuttling
Trade winds drumming,
Fierce waves pounding,
Oh free, so free, the little body sings it way
Through the ocean world,
The storm and the thundering shore.

Black son, Black son,
How can I cry
How can I plead
How can I tell
That I cannot come? That I stand
My entry barred,

My entry barred
By fear bred deep within the bone.
Break loose, break loose,
The world is yours
The unity of land and sea.

Locked out I stand
My entry barred
By fear bred deep within the bone,
The stench of ships
Wind-driven tombs that foul the day
The grim patrol
Of ravening sharks, the days routine
Of bodies shovelled from the deck-

The sea, the separating sea,
The sea, the driving wind
That takes me from my living
And my dead

For me
The mountain valleys and the hills
That sheltered those who lived to find
A refuge far from sea and shore,
A home beyond the ocean wave.

Copyright Philip Sherlock 1987

From Our Yard. Jamaican Poetry Since Independence. Jamaica 21 Anthology Series. Edited by Pamela Mordecai.

Sam Sharpe in Prison by Philip Sherlock

Sam Sharpe is one of Jamaica's national heroes. He was an educated slave who led a peaceful protest that ended in a rebellion. Just before his execution, Sam Sharpe declared "I would rather die on yonder gallows, than live for a minute more in slavery". The rebellion, and Sharpe's subsequent execution, accelerated the abolition of slavery in Jamaica. The Government of Jamaica gave Sam Sharpe the posthumous designation of "Rt. Excellent", and the Sam Sharpe Teacher's College near Montego Bay was named in his honor.

"Sam Sharpe in Prison" is taken from Sir Philip Sherlock's Shout for Freedom.

Sam Sharpe in Prison

I love the strong and testing things, the horse
that will not take a bridle, mule
that kick and fight against the bit,
the bull that will not take a rope,
with these I love to test myself; the strength
that fight to do the most in that last stretch
of cane-piece work before the sundown time.
I love to row a boat against the sea,
to judge the waves and make the current help.
I love the strong and fighting things,
and  I do miss the belly laugh at evening time,
and talk and singing with my brothers them
at night time on we mountain top.
And now the darkness fall upon them all
on Thomas Dove, and Gardner and on William James
from down at Ducketts; and on Johnson from Retrieve,
and Dehaney who did tell them straight
he know they have determined he must hang
so hang him then and he will take with him
whatever things he know,
and will not sign confession.
These all have gone. How I to stay?
These all be dead. How I to live?

Copyright Philip Sherlock 1987

 From Our Yard. Jamaican Poetry Since Independence. No. 2 Jamaica 21 Anthology Series. Edited by Pamela Mordecai. Institute of Jamaica Publications Limited. 1987

Sir Philip Sherlock

Sir Philip Sherlock

Sir Philip Sherlock was born in Manchioneal, Portland, in eastern Jamaica in 1902. He was the son of a Methodist minister, and the brother of another distinguished Jamaican, Hugh Sherlock.

Sir Philip was a poet, educator, historian, social worker, and philosopher, and has been included among the founding fathers of modern Jamaica. He attended Calabar High School, which he later taught at. He was also the Headmaster at Wolmer's Boys' School.

He was a member of the Irvine Commission, which established the University College of the West Indies (UWI), a forerunner to the University of the West Indies. From 1963 to 1969, he was the Vice-Chancellor of the UWI.

Throughout this month, I will be featuring Sir Philip's poetry, as well as his contribution to the social development of Jamaica.