Growth & Jobs | JAIKU promoting poetry as a business

JAMAICA HAS produced some great poets. Many of them were more than writers, engaging in other endeavours to eke out a living, and they perhaps did not see poetry as a structured business as we know it now. But, can poetry within itself be a business, much more a successful one? Kacy Garvey, co-founder and managing director at JAIKU, believes so.

“It all began when I attended a Poetry Business Workshop at Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in June 2023. The session was led by Christoph Jenkins, an American entrepreneur on a multi-city tour, promoting The Poet Life, his poetry business. Out of the 10 cities on his tour, Kingston was his only stop outside the United States. I was completely enthralled. That day, I began to re-imagine poetry, not just as art, but as enterprise, and started researching what it would take to build a poetry firm,” Garvey explained.

“The moment Christoph said, ‘See yourself as a business,’ the name JAIKU flashed across my mind. Instantly, I knew what I wanted to create, a team of poets, a home where all poets could belong, and where clients of any background could find exactly what they’re looking for in one place. Before that moment, I had never thought of poetry as an industry. Now, it feels almost offensive that every other art form is recognised as one, except poetry. I’m determined to change that.”

But, what does JAIKU mean? Garvey said she is often tempted to say it stands for Jamaican Artists in Knowledge and Unity, but it really is not an acronym. It had evolved from the Japanese word, haiku, which is a Japanese poetry form. The h was replace with J “to make it sound distinctly Jamaican”.

“Only after finalising the name and logo did I realise their deeper meaning. A haiku has a fixed structure, 5-7-5 syllables over three lines, but within that framework, there’s endless creative freedom. That’s what JAIKU embodies, a diverse collective of poets with varying themes, styles, genders, generations, and expertise, all working within one shared structure and vision,” Garvey explained further.

“Our logo captures this essence. The feather pen symbolises poetry itself. The multiple dots represent the collective, a community of poets (breaking the stereotype of poets working in isolation). And the encircling arc represents unity, how we come together to advance poetry as both art and industry.”

Garvey is not alone in her endeavour, as JAIKU is led by a small, dynamic leadership team, each member being an award-winning poet at the national, regional, and international level.” And, hear this: “Ironically, none of us have formally studied literature or poetry,” she revealed. “We are a diverse group of men and women in our late 20s to late 30s, based across Kingston, St Catherine, Mandeville, and St Elizabeth.

JAIKU poets are hired to perform at events (weddings, conferences, festivals, office parties), to create custom pieces (birthday tributes, corporate campaigns, policy jingles, to train and mentor others (workshops in schools, literacy programmes, or wellness sessions that use poetry for emotional expression and healing). They also explore fusions of poetry with dance, visual art, and music, expanding the boundaries of creative collaboration.

“Poetry is teeming with opportunities, and it extends far beyond selling books. Anything, anyone, anywhere that needs a message needs a poet,” Garvey said. “In just a year and a half, the journey has been extraordinary!”

In just a year a half, JAIKU poets have performed at the Rex Nettleford Arts Conference (2023 and 2025). They were the only poets featured in both years at the Edna Manley College-hosted conference. At the 2025 World Poetry Day Gala they delivered the closing performance at the 10th anniversary celebration hosted by the National Library of Jamaica. JAIKU has also successfully launched Jamaica’s first full poetry week, Kingston Poetry Week 2025 in March, featuring 11 poetry-centred events with local and international partners.

It also co-hosted CARICON Poetry Slam 2025, with the Caribbean Literature Conference, marking the first time the Slam was held outside Los Angeles and in the Caribbean. At the recent CARIFESTA XV, JAIKU’s founders received full sponsorship from the National Cultural Foundation of Barbados to attend and perform. And, Garvey will be representing JAIKU at the British Virgin Islands Literary Festival in Tortola in two weeks.

“Success, to me, is seeing a rural primary school on ‘Career Day’, children in homemade costumes beaming with pride. One says, ‘I want to be a doctor,’ another, “a policeman”, another, ‘a fireman’. And then one little child says, ‘I want to be a poet.’ That’s the future we’re working towards, a Jamaica where poetry is a respected, viable, and livable profession.”

JAIKU was also present at Kingston Creative Artwalk’s ‘Demo Day’ in downtown Kingston on September 28. “Demo Day was phenomenal. Kingston Creative generously sponsored our promotional materials, giving our booth a polished and professional look … The preparation process itself was invaluable; it pushed me to re-evaluate JAIKU’s systems from the perspective of potential clients and investors. As a result, I now have a clearer, sharper vision of how to position JAIKU as a brand that delivers real solutions and meets market demand,” Garvey said in retrospect.”0