Wisteria

I am sharing again another poem by Kwame Dawes. Enjoy Wisteria.

Wisteria

Circumspect woman,
you carry your memories
tied up in a lipstick-stained
kerchief in a worn straw basket.
When you undo the knot,
the scent of wisteria,
thick with the nausea of nostalgia,
fills the closed-in room.

You lean into the microphone,
smile at the turning tape,
while fingering the fading petals.
You intone your history,
breathing in the muggy
scent of wayward love.
Your anger is always
a whisper, enigmatic,
almost unspoken,
just a steady heat.

I don't like 'em
never did, never could...

Verse vs. Verse

Verse vs. Verse is a program which the Jamaica Poetry Society hopes to launch soon (Source: Jamaica Gleaner Online, Sunday June 19, 2011).  The Society plans to establish literary centers in schools throughout the island in order to promote poetry, and it is hoping to collaborate with the University of the West Indies to achieve this. You can learn more about the efforts of the Jamaica Poetry Society through Facebook and Twitter.

Kwame Dawes



 The Poets of the Caribbean spotlight shines this month on poet Kwame Dawes, who was born in Ghana to a Ghanaian mother and a Jamaican father. He grew up in Jamaica, studied, as well as taught in Canada, and now teaches English at the University of South Carolina. Kwame Dawes, son of author Neville Dawes, is an internationally acclaimed poet and was co-founder of the former Calabash International Literary Festival. Below are some of his works to date:



Progeny of Air (Dawes' first collection and winner of the Forward Poetry Prize)
Resisting the Anomie
Prophets
Requiem
Jacko Jacobus
Shook Foil
Mapmaker
Gomer's Song
Back of Mount Peace
Hope's Hospice
Wheel and Come Again: An Anthology of Reggae Poems
Bivouac (a novel)

His non-fiction works include:

Natural Mysticism: Towards a New Reggae Aesthetic
Talk Yuh Talk: Interviews with English-Speaking Caribbean Poets
Learning to Speak: The New Age of HIV/AIDS in the Other Jamaica

Stay tuned this month as I feature more information on Kwame Dawes and share with you a few of his poems.

Dat Bumpyhead Gal

Dat Bumpyhead Gal was written by Joan Andrea Hutchinson, in response to public criticism of her for wearing the nubian knots hairstyle on a local Jamaican television station in 1996. Joan has since published seven CDs and three books, and Dat Bumpyhead Gal is the title of one of her books and CDs.

Joan's hairstyle,
the inspiration for Dat Bumpyhead Gal





Dat Bumpyhead Gal

Tell mi say mi no good enough fi you TV screen

How mi offend you eyesight

Tell mi say mi is a black, ugly, bumpyhead gal

And mi tell you, mi feeling right

Cuss mi say mi is a bootoo, and mi no have no class

Trace mi and galang rude

Tell mi say a educated woman shoulda know better

And I tell you mi feeling good

 You say mi hairstyle disgusting chaka chaka an tan bad

And favour like something out a street

And say mi should a shame fi lef mi house tan so

And mi smile, for mi feeing sweet

You see, the truth is, mi not ashamed of mi owna self

Mi not afraid of me

When mi look into the mirror, mi like the somebody

Weh mi  see a look pon me

Mi like her thick nappy hair and her broad face

Mi like her in and out of clothes

But most of all mi love weh she stan up for and defend

And, a no pose she a pose

But serious, when you a go fall in love with you

And leggo of all you fear

When you ago take the time tell God thanks fi you life

Instead of fret bout ‘hair’

For if it kinky or straight, if it black or white

Transparent or opaque

God make all a wi fi a special reason

And God don’t make mistake

So if you want to criticize the Father work

Then you life going to be ‘salt’

For the Creator love all a wi and look out fi wi

Even when wi have plenty fault

So galang, call mi black and bumpyhead if you  want

But make sure say you say it loud

Because the Creator love me and me feel good

Fi be bumpyhead, black and proud.

Copyright Joan Andrea Hutchinson. Reprinted with author's permission.

Bedspread By Lorna Goodison (Another Poem for Poetry Month)

Today, I am sharing Bedspread, Lorna Goodison's well-known poem about the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela. I did notice that a number of my blog readers appeared to be searching for this poem, and I thought I would share it, particularly since this is poetry month. I hope you will enjoy it. For more on Lorna Goodison and her work, please see my previous posts.

Bedspread

Sometimes in the still
unchanging afternoons
when the memories crowded
hot and hopeless against
her brow
she would seek its cool colors
and signal him to lie down
in his cell.
It is three in the afternoon Nelson
let us rest here together
upon this bank draped in freedom
color.
It was woven by women with slender
capable hands
accustomed to binding wounds,
hands that closed the eyes of
dead children,
that fought for the right to
speak in their own tongues
in their own land
in their own schools.
They wove the bedspread
and knotted notes of hope
in each strand
and selvaged the edges with
ancient blessings
older than any white man's coming.
So in the afternoons lying on this
bright bank of blessing
Nelson my husband I meet you in dreams
my beloved much of the world too is
asleep blind to the tyranny and evil
devouring our people.
But, Mandela, you are rock on this sand
harder than any metal
mined in the bowels of this land
you are purer than any
gold tempered by fire
shall we lie here wrapped
in the colors of our free Azania?
They arrested the bedspread.
They and their friends are working
to arrest the dreams in our heads
and the women, accustomed to closing
the eyes of the dead
are weaving cloths still brighter
to drape us in glory in a Free
Azania.

(From Selected Poems, The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor. 1992)

Copyright Lorna Goodison. Reprinted with the author's permission.

Joan Andrea Hutchinson

Joan Andrea Hutchinson is an amazingly talented and versatile Jamaican poet. In addition to her poetry, she is also a teacher, motivational speaker, actress and storyteller. Joan has often been compared to the late Louise Bennett, Jamaican poet and storyteller, who wrote and performed in the Jamaican dialect.

Joan has a passion for preserving Jamaican culture and dialect, and her poems and CDs reflect the many proverbs and expressions unique to Jamaica. She continues to work with young Jamaicans throughout the island to highlight the island's rich cultural heritage.

The following are some of Joan's poetry collections and CDs:

Inna Mi Heart: Jamaican Love Poetry
Meck Mi Tell Yuh
Dat Bumpy Head Gal
Jamaica Kin Teeth
Everyting Jamaican
Jamaica Ridim and Ryme.

Joan also had a role in the play Laugh Jamaica. To date, as a testament to her talent, she has received the following awards:

Caribbean Hall of Fame Award for Excellence in the Peforming Arts
Jamaica Music Industry (JAMI) Award for Dub Poetry

Throughout this month, I will continue to shine the spotlight on Joan's writings. What are your thoughts? If you have read or listened to any of Joan's work, please let me know.