lokster71's review against another edition
4.0
Grace Nichols was born and raised in Guyana and moved to Britain in 1977. This is a selection of her work that goes back to her first selection, I Is a Long-Memoried Woman, from 1983.
Her poems neatly weave experiences and memories of the Caribbean, of Africa, of India, of South America, and Britain. Gods and goddesses of all these places pop up throughout the collection. They being an anchor against the chill of imperialism - and the British weather. She balances lyricism with realism. I think the word I've seen used a lot about her work is 'grit'.
But alongside the grit is a wit and poise that makes these poems a good read. Even though some of the poems look back at Empire there is still a positivity and generosity in a lot of them. The strength of women is another key theme alongside the effect of emigration and being part of a diaspora. One of my favourite poems in the collection, "Old Canecutter at the Airport", covers the pain of that departure:
"His cane shot eyes
his voice cracked as he wails
what his bones know for certain:
'Nevaar to meet again
Nevaar to meet again'
The last part of the collection is called Poems for Younger Readers and features some lovely poems, particularly about cats.
So, I could waffle on in an uneducated way about this collection but I enjoyed it a lot.
Her poems neatly weave experiences and memories of the Caribbean, of Africa, of India, of South America, and Britain. Gods and goddesses of all these places pop up throughout the collection. They being an anchor against the chill of imperialism - and the British weather. She balances lyricism with realism. I think the word I've seen used a lot about her work is 'grit'.
But alongside the grit is a wit and poise that makes these poems a good read. Even though some of the poems look back at Empire there is still a positivity and generosity in a lot of them. The strength of women is another key theme alongside the effect of emigration and being part of a diaspora. One of my favourite poems in the collection, "Old Canecutter at the Airport", covers the pain of that departure:
"His cane shot eyes
his voice cracked as he wails
what his bones know for certain:
'Nevaar to meet again
Nevaar to meet again'
The last part of the collection is called Poems for Younger Readers and features some lovely poems, particularly about cats.
So, I could waffle on in an uneducated way about this collection but I enjoyed it a lot.
More...