Thanks to Papillote Press for doing such a great job with publishing my hurricane Maria themed poetry pamphlet collection called Guabancex and to a whole list of other people too, for their love, support and encouragement.
Special thanks to St. Lucian poet John Robert Lee for his kind words on the back cover “A new voice that speaks with sensitivity, maturity and assurance out of a horrendous experience. The final poem Hurricane PraXis (Xorcising Maria Xperience) is a tour de force.”
Guabancex is available now from Inpress Books and Amazon.co.uk (Amazon.com in April) or perhaps your local bookshop would like to stock it?
We’re hoping to have a book launch in Dominica at the end of this month (February), after which the book will be in stores here.
On 18 September 2017, a category 5 hurricane, the worst in recorded history, hit the Caribbean island of Dominica. Hurricane Maria destroyed lives and land. Nothing would be the same again. Guabancex explores the complex mix of experiences and emotions, both during and after the event.
The collection is named in recognition of the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean. One of these groups, the Taino, called the supreme female spiritual entity associated with all natural destructive forces, Guabancex.
Hurricane Maria was a very traumatic time, not just for those of us here in Dominica when it hit, but for those overseas who had family and friends living through it. We saw the worst side of nature, and the best and worst sides of human nature and went through incredible mental and physical challenges. Even though there has been amazing recovery, things have not just returned to ‘business as usual’ for the island or many of its inhabitants.
For me, writing the poems for this pamphlet was a therapeutic exercise, a way of trying to make sense of, work through and process all that happened and explore some of the varied experiences and differing points of view.
Acknowledgements
With thanks and gratitude to:
My dear family, tt, The Nature Island Literary Festival (NILF) organising team, chaired by Dr. Alwin Bully and Dr. Schuyler Esprit (also Create Caribbean founder and director) and all who contributed and performed over the years, Polly Pattullo of Papillote Press, Vladimir Lucien, Oonya Kempadoo, Dr. Kimone Joseph (Head, The University of the West Indies (UWI) Open Campus Dominica), Dominica Division of Culture, faculty and staff of the Department of Literary, Cultural and Communication Studies, The UWI St Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago, including Dr. Maarit Forde and Dr. Muli Amaye, Vievee Francis and Gregory Pardlo (The Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop) and the CCWW Chapel Hill 2017 cohort, Merle Hodge, Funso Aiyejina, Danielle Lyndersay (The Cropper Foundation Caribbean Writers programme), the Cropper 2016 Balandra group and all the writers who visited, The Caribbean Writer and Moko magazine families.
Many thanks also to the editors of the following publications where versions of these poems first appeared:
Invoked – Susumba’s Book Bag – guest editor Shivanee N Ramlochan
In The Air – Interviewing The Caribbean journal – Dr. Opal Palmer Adisa
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