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- Born to Slow Horses
New work by the co-founder of the Caribbean Artists Movement
Winner of the Griffin International Poetry Prize (2006)
Kamau Brathwaite's Born to Slow Horses is a series of poetic meditations on islands and exile, language and ritual, and the force of personal and historical passions and griefs. These poems are haunted, figuratively and literally, by spirits of the African diaspora and drenched in the colors, sounds, and rhythms of the islands. But they also encompass the world of the exile and return, and the events of 9/11 in New York City. Brathwaite is one of the foremost voices in postcolonial inquiry and expression, and his poetry is densely rooted and expansive.
Using his unusual "sycorax" signature typography and spelling, Brathwaite brings a cultural specificity, with distinct accents, sonic gestures, and pronunciations, into his pages—making them new, exciting, and rich in nuances.
I -The Master of the Mary Jones - Bermudas - Guanahani
II - Donna - Days & Nights - Iwa
III - MMassaccourraamann
IIII - 'I was wash-way in blood'- Bread - Dear PM
V - Kumina
9/11 - Hawk
VII - Namesetoura - Mountain - The Robin Poem
KAMAU BRATHWAITE (1930–2020) was an internationally celebrated poet, performer, and cultural theorist. He won numerous awards, including the Neustadt International Prize for Literature and the Griffin Poetry Prize. A retired professor of comparative literature at New York University, Brathwaite lived in CowPastor, Barbados.
"If...we believe that poetry must move the reader on an intellectual and visceral level, so that the reader is inspired to return to it and re-read again and again, then Born to Slow Horses promises to stand the test of time."
~Harold Heft, The Gazette, Montreal
"Those who lament that the Age of Giants is over have evidently never read Kamau Brathwaite. His is not the poetry of one man in the world but of an entire world in one man."
~Eliot Weinberger
"It is Kamau Brathwaite whose work, more than that of any Caribbean poet since Cesar Vallejo (in translation), is influencing the future of poetry written in English. Disinterested in derivative European meters and themes, Brathwaite delivers a piping body of work characterized by innovation in typography, diction, form, and prosody. The news-flash contemporaneity of his subject material, the complexly counterpointed musical phrasing, and his tempestuous, politically incisive wordplay collaborate to invest his poems with an unparalleled exigency. Born to Slow Horses is a fast, breathless ride."
~Forrest Gander
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