Jamaica's best celebrate milestone

Title: Jubilation: Poems celebrating 50 years of Jamaican Independence

Edited by: Kwame Dawes

Reviewer: Dr Glenville Ashby

Publisher: Peepal Tree Press Ltd, 2012

For Jamaicans, the year 2012 marks an exhaustive period of anticipation, celebration, and reflection. And for good reason. Fifty years of Independence - A golden anniversary - is a gargantuan feat - especially for a nation with a tumultuous, yet, compelling past. Like its Caribbean counterparts, this island of close to three million people was the scene of proxy wars, slavery, colonialism, imperialism, and fierce ideological battles. And amid all, it emerged stronger, with a distinct cultural identity. Jubilation - an anthology of poems by some of that nation's literary giants marks this momentous occasion.

Edited by award winning writer, Kwame Dawes, Jubilation strives on authenticity, sidestepping any temptation to interpret '50 Years' as merely a feel-good moment. Sure, it conveys more than snapshots of mirth and Jamaica's unrivalled beauty. But a deeper, more philosophical message is narrated. Here, Jamaica is laid bare - rich, inviting, even troubling. In many ways, Jubilation provokes and challenges nationals. It is a battle cry for re-evaluation on dual levels - individual and national. From the opening salvo, an existentialist theme surfaces - enlivening the past - if only to validate the present.

Lorna Goodison provides the innocence and beauty of Jamaica's bucolic and verdant landscape in 'Our Blessed Country Lady', and 'Hope Garden'. But Jubilation peers into another side of Jamaica - the soul of its people. For sure, Jamaicans have been put through the mill, even at the mercy of those who swore to represent them, as Jean Goulbourne's charges in the subtly written, 'Politician'. And despite seemingly insurmountable hurdles, they remain resilient, indefatigable - as masterfully articulated in 'The Gift of Tongues', by Marcia Douglas.

But it is Olive Senior's 'The Way of Everything', that holds court. Given the magic of this artful package, this is no small accomplishment. Leaning towards fatalism and providence, its refrain: "Death is the needle looking for a thread," is haunting, even apocalyptic. "Death is revelation and horsemen travelling two by two or in packs or in posses," we read. Cleverly interwoven into a mosaic of pain and hope, it encapsulates the raw irony of Jubilation, so reflective of the nation and its people.

The Jamaica I remember

The past is romanticised in Lillian Allen's 'The Jamaica I remember'. It's breezy, but emotive - a yearning for a yesterday when blood was no thicker than water.

In Monica Minott's edgy, 'No Salt', the wiles and indomitable spirit of the oppressed bleeds through - line after line. "Nanny fool dem, she eat no salt, so she could fly high. ... Bongo never fly, only Maroon can fly," she cries.

In the resistance fuelled, 'Third World Girl', Jean 'Binta' Breeze, damns the island's historical experience and its many apologists, Excoriating its legacy of stolen dreams, she intones: "I am a third- world girl, born in the land where your flags unfurled empire' over but the rape been done, and the blood been my story our meeting needs to face our history, tell the present what's become of you and me, before the future brings the possibility. Love at first sight only happens to the free."

Undeniably, there is yearning and unbridled nationalism on every tongue - may be best exemplified in Ralph Thomson's 'Seasons', and the earthy, 'Prayer for the Unflummoxed Beaver'. But there is also seething hurt and anger. The anthemic, 'Pieces in Parts (FI TOSH - RIP)', is relentless, exhorting and pleading for a divine intercessor: "Say a prayer ... say a prayer for your soul and say it fast ..."

Even a celebratory dance befitting this felicitous occasion is tempered in 'Still We Sing', from the pen of Susan Goffe. "The lights come on again the fireworks greeted independence ... such hope ... even now, such hope, the country still a bone that stray-dog leaders grip in the garbage and gully water of politics' narrow streets ... and people still know that while we sing, we work."

On such special occasions, it is easy to be blinded by pageantry and fanfare. But here, no such "frivolity" is allowed to breath, unattended.

Jubilation oozes maturity - an unbridled quest for veritable independence - a struggle still in its gestational years.

Yes, Jubilation soars, reading like a "best of" collection, with each poem invariably capturing the Jamaican experience. Interestingly, Dawes prefaced the collection with the following: "I say to you that you will find here some remarkable gems, poems that will reward reading and rereading." I can hardly disagree.

Available: Amazon.com

Ratings:: Highly recommended

Email: glenvilleashby@gmail.com