Before the Caribbean-inflected spoken-word poetry of the 1990s,
epitomized by poetry slams at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in
Manhattan, there was reggae. In the past thirty years, most
Caribbean poetry written in English has come to the shores of the
United States on waves of music, in the lyrics of Bob Marley, Peter
Tosh, and Burning Spear. Kwame Dawes, himself a musician and poet,
is not surprised by this phenomenon. The region's political and
cultural awakening of the 1970s was fueled by a growing African
consciousness, often in competition with the multiple
traditions--European, Indian, Chinese--that have permeated many
Caribbean nations for centuries. The influence of reggae has
produced a poetry that is quite different from earlier work from
the Caribbean, but this is only one more chapter in a tradition
characterized by continuing tension with a diverse heritage.
The interviews in Talk Yuh Talk reflect a range of Caribbean
voices from several generations, from those poets influenced by a
dynamic interplay between the popular culture of reggae, calypso,
folk music, and "yard" theater to those whose work is closer to
classical forms of literature and oral narrative. Kwame Dawes talks
with many of the most important poets to have emerged from the
Caribbean who are still writing today. The poets discuss their
techniques, their situations as poets, and the challenges they face
in the profession and in their craft. Well-known figures like Lorna
Goodison, Grace Nichols, Kamau Brathwaite, Fred D'Aguiar, and
Martin Carter share space with such lesser-known but equally
important poets as Mervyn Morris and Kendel Hippolyte.
In a specific introduction to each poet, Dawes offers a sense of
what is important or meaningful about the poet's work. He explores
detachment with Mervyn Morris, intellectual rigor with David
Dabydeen, the struggles of obscurity with Cyril Dabydeen, the
poetics of surprise and the erotic with Grace Nichols, the reggae
escape motif with Lillian Allen, ambivalence about Africa with
James Berry, and more, talking with eighteen poets in all. By
allowing them to speak in their own voices and by directing the
questions along the lines of creative process and aesthetics, Dawes
makes a compelling case for the strength of Caribbean poetry while
offering a lively source of inspiration and information for
practicing poets as well as critics.
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