PEGGY CARR’S HONEY AND LIME

By ANDREA BOWMAN Taipei, Taiwan

I AM PLEASED and proud to reveal a hidden gem that had remained concealed since its publication in 2006. Honey and Lime, a collection of poems by our Cultural Ambassador Peggy Carr, is page-turning poetry par excellence.

Fifty-five poems in 85 pages capture the bitter-sweet, poignant realities of journey, time, love, loss, resistance and hope.

Dedicated to the poet’s friend, Irwin Martin, “in celebration of almost 40 years of friendship”, these poems, with a distinct Caribbean rhythm and resonance, reflect the pulsating universality of the language of heart-speak. The poet’s predominant use of the first-person (voice) tends to ensure an immediate intensity and clarity of expression. ‘Final Chores’, an 18 line poem, stands out in this regard. So too does ‘ Wino’ with its oneness of form and content in 26 words and ‘ Journey’ which ends thus:

I too passed this way or is it…

I passed this way too.

The imagery in these poems is tightly wrought. ‘ Church 1’, with the following opening stanza is emblematic of the poet’s facility with this technique:

A sturdy ageless little hill her threadbare skirt of trees spread wide in constant curtsey to the spray-soaked wind the thin path slipping carelessly off her shoulder a coy reminder of her old affair with the sea ‘ Church 2’, which comes towards the end of the collection, maintains the technique of jam-packed imagery which tugs at all of our senses at the same time:

Walls stuffed hot with hallelujahs bleached with self-righteousness shut out the stink of poverty pressed up against the window panes Consciences plunge headlong into rivers of Jesus-blood Amens roll mercilessly over prostrate wills

‘ Caribbean-ites’ speaks readily with the same intensity of swiftly drawn pictures:

Some god-ling must have smiled and others wept as the sun spewed us from her eventful womb then abandoned us laughing as we drowned in the sweat of shackled arms and plump white smiles

In the collection, Carr also recognizes a fallen cultural hero and heroine.

‘ Shake’ is dedicated to the memory of Ellsworth ‘Shake’ Keane (1927-1997), poet, jazz trumpeter and our country’s first Director of Culture. Here is an excerpt:

Surgeon with a pen he excised scars from old colonial wounds infused lines with core Vincentian colour transplanting his heart rhythms to the page ‘ On Higher Ground’ is dedicated to the memory

of farmer and community activist Earlene Horne (1949-1998). Here is the rousing final stanza of that poem:

Perhaps I’ll find me a mountain tall enough for giants where planting season rests and the harvesting songs of triumphant women soar amidst the rustling of busy hearts dispensing love to all the children of the universe

The lyricism noted in this poem and others has full reign in the teardrop like poem, ‘ I Miss You’: I miss you when…

my tears go chasing after some elusive song that seems to hold your voice…

…and my arms can’t understand the empty space between them …I miss you…

…always

The book ends with a section of eight poems entitled ‘ WeTalk’ which is dedicated “to the youth of my country”. In this section, Carr uses Vincy vernacular to craft ‘ Country Talk’, ‘ GunTalk’, ‘ Plain Talk’, ‘ Long Talk’, ‘ Bad Talk’, ‘ Old Talk’, ‘ Sweet Talk’ and ‘ Back Talk’. Here is the last poem in its entirety:

BACK TALK

You could try hold me down but you can’t hold me back cause I going way I going in Jesus name and it make no sense you turn over stone looking for blame Ley we just call it technical failure in every way you can’t interfere wid de signal from me soul to me ear and me can’t rewire your life fuh mek you understand dat wings on a woman don’t mean horns on a man Just stand back watch me go through dat door feet off the floor ah catching a ride pon any faint breeze unleashed from your pride ah soaring with ease

I highly recommend this collection for close study at CXC’s CSEC and CAPE levels, as well as at our University of the West Indies. Copies are available on Amazon; Book Depository (free shipping); Barnes & Noble and from other major book sellers.

Andrea Bowman is St.Vincent and the Grenadines’s Ambassador to the Republic of China (Taiwan) and an educator with special interests in Literature.