Desiree C. Bailey

In this collection Bailey pulls on her background as a native of Trinidad and Tobago who grew up in New York City. I really enjoyed this collection--it is sad, it is proud, it is the Caribbean, and it is New York. It is historical, it is modern. And, of course, it is the sea.

Though the Caribbean focus in this book is Haiti, that is to pull on Haiti's history as the first black republic, born of a successful slave revolt. A beacon of the Caribbean.

She also considers her childhood in New York, where teachers assumed she did could not read English, and where so many worked to get rid of their accents (their island selves).

Across the bottom of the pages in this book, Bailey has included another poem--spoken in the voice of the sea, in a Trinidadian patois. I actually read this piece trough, and then went back to read the other poemns and re-read the sea's voice.… (mer)