"THE WORD is out," were Jean Small's first words as she took over
the chairing of the Festival of the Word, which began right after
the opening ceremony of the Conference on Caribbean Culture on Wednesday
night. It was the first of the three-night series, which began at
8:00 p.m. each night, from Wednesday to yesterday.
Only three poets performed, but their works was more than enough.
They were Professor Edward Baugh, Lorna Goodison and Professor Kofi
Anyidoho. Professor Baugh was the first to take the stage.
Professor Baugh's performance was extremely interesting. Indeed,
his voice is one of those that is simply meant for poetry, regardless
of what he is saying. He began his reading with 'The Comings and
Goings of Poetry' and then moved into a rather short piece which
appeared to have been inspired by The Observer. Professor
Baugh noted that while the paper had carried the story about the
conference and therefore Professor Brathwaite, it was his picture
which accompanied it. Thus, he did a piece titled 'On Being Mistaken
For Eddie Brathwaite'. The audience found this piece and the preceding
anecdote very amusing.
However, light banter did not make up the core of his performance.
He quickly changed the mood with 'For the Drowned Africans of the
Middle Passage' and then switched it again with 'Country Dance'.
His most moving piece, however was 'Amadou Diallo's Mother'. The
poem brought gasps from the audience with its raw truth so poetically
put. Of course, when he said "It was the singing," the audience
began applauding before he began the poem. In fact, when he got
the portion where he sang, How Great Thou Art some members
of the audience sang along.
Professor Baugh's poetry was followed by that of Lorna Goodison.
While she began her first two poems without names or introduction,
no one seemed to notice. However, when she got to the poem, 'What
We Carried That Carried Us' and 'Never Expect', she began to give
both names and introductions. She pointed out that the name 'Never
Expec' was the name of a house received just after emancipation.
Ms. Goodison also performed 'Book', a response to Thomas Carlyle's
'Nigger Question'. The poem's tragic irony was by no means lost
on the audience, who laughed quietly, except for when she said "claat
for all the down pressor", which brought loud laughter. Her possibly
most well-received piece, however, was a re-write of Cante 15 of
Dante's 'Inferno'. She noted that locating Cante 15 in Jamaica was
easy because sometimes "Jamaica is hell".
Professor Anyidoho brought up the rear. Unfortunately, what had
begun as a trickle of persons leaving had, by that time become much
more nocticeable. The Professor performed 'Earth Child', 'Ancestral
Saga' and 'The Night is Fast Spent'. Also unfortunately, many persons
displayed the fact that they had no 'broughtupsy', as they chattered
quite loudly at the back throughout his performance. The talking
at the back got progressively louder until they were finally shushed.
The night ended with the Akwaaba Drummers retaking the stage.
