New Caribbean Poetry

An Anthology

edited by
KEI MILLER

CARCANET
 Contents

Introduction IX

MARILENE P H I P P S - K E T T L E W E L L
Sanctuary 3
Frog 4
The Christ is Born 5
Chapel Space 6
Come Visit 7
On a Cross 8
Hear 9
May You Live 10
The Ink of My Heart 11
Blue Eyes 12
Estuary 13
Dialogue 14
Birds 15
Lobsters 16
The Life of Small Ones
I Starfish 17
II Dark Ants 17
III Fireflies 17
A Chicken 18
On Good Friday 19

DELORES GAUNTLETT
The Carpenter 23
A Song for My Father 24
Under These Stones 25
Interview with a Centenarian 26
Doctorbird 27
The Empty House 28
Croaker 29
The Watertank Revisited 30
A Question of Love 31
The fever with which she danced 32
That Sunday Morning 33
Pocomania 34
Kendal Crash - 1957 35
The Balmyard 36
Freeing Her Hands to Clap 37
 CHRISTIAN CAMPBELL
Goodman's Bay 41
Shells for Sonia Sanchez 43
Legba 45
Twilight 46
Moruga 47
Anthuriums 48
Yellow Rooms 49
Repatriation 51
Groove 52
On Listening to Shabba While Reading Cesaire 54
Rudical: Derek Bennett, killed by police 56

LORETTA COLLINS KLOBAH

El Velorio, The Wake (1893) 59
Going Up, Going Down 61
Novena a La Reina Maria Lionza
Noche primera 65
Noche segunda 65
Noche tercera 66
Immaculate noche cuarta 66
Noche quinta 67
Noche sexta 68
Noche septima 68
Noche octava 69
Noche novena 70
The Twelve-Foot Neon Woman on Top of Maria's Exotik Pleasure
Palace Speaks of Papayas, Hurricanes, and Wakes 71
By the Waters of St. Lucia 73
Two Women Chatting by the Sea (1856) 75

SHARA M C C A L L U M
Now the Guitar Begins
1 Last Song 81
2 A Story 81
3 Fate 82
4 Electroshock 83
5 Fugue 84
6 The Call 84
7 Interlude 85
8 Genesis 85
9 Music Not Meant for Music's Cage 86
10 Coda 86

vi New Caribbean Poetry

 11 The Flamboyant
What I'm Telling You
from jack mandoora me no choose none
The tragedy of the mermaid
What the Oracle Said
Dove
Election Days
Dear History
Mother and Child

TANYA SHIRLEY
Guinep
Out ofBody
Sunday Ritual
The Life Left Behind
The Music Man
She Who Sleeps With Bones
My name
Cancer (Part I)
Catholic School
Inheritance
My Christian Friend
Music is Made Out of Smoke
Bought for Half the Original Price

IAN STRACHAN
gods and spirits are summoned through the portal divine
Mae Hanna, Grandmother
The Dead Their Due
'All Blues': Miles Davis Quintet
Haitian Worker, Monday Morning
Gloriana
i must share these with you

JENNIFER RAHIM
The Felling of a Tree
Song
Lady Lazarus in the Sun
Miss I-Tired
For the Seeds that Wither
The Wild Cat
The Mango
A Grandfather Sings

CONTENTS
My mother took it 150
Saint Francis and the Douen 151

Index of First Lines 153

Index of Titles 156

viii New Caribbean Poetry