Cherry Natural
Tanya Batson-Savage
, Staff Reporter
IN THE respite between the morning and afternoon showers on Tuesday, dub poet Cherry Natural and I take a seat in The Emancipation Park, New Kingston, to talk about her life, projects and philosophy. Several students and their teachers are also making use of the cool weather to take in the park.
A small woman, crowned with beaded locks, Cherry Natural oozes friendly confidence. Her very dress - a tank, jeans and running shoes - declare that she is quite comfortable with herself.
Now one of the leading women in dub poetry, Cherry Natural has been dubbing her ideas since 1979. In 1999 her CD Earth Woman earned her the title of Best Dub Poet in the Jamaica Federation of Musicians Awards. That same year, she represented Jamaica in England on a cultural exchange programme. To complete the triple triumphs of 1999, Cherry's work was also included in the anthology of Caribbean female poets Utterances and Incantations: Women , Poetry and Dub.
FIRST POEM
Inspired to use the word by Louise Bennett's poetry, Cherry explains that her first poem was a re-worked version of Dutty Tough. Since then, she has learned how to sharpen her own thoughts and aim them at what she believes to be the injustices of the world.
Her poems such as Fire Bun, which criticises the constant yell of 'fire bun' for everything, and Send Di Poem Dem Come, which calls for activism through poetry, have put her in equal standing with poets such as Mutabaruka and Oku Onura.
She is a confident woman, unafraid of speaking her mind. "I have no control over the thoughts I was blessed with," she says. Her self-confidence is a part of the explanation of how she came by the name Cherry Natural. Born Marcia Wedderburn, Cherry explains that she adopted the second part of her name during her teens because it reflected her outlook.
Based on Cherry's outlook, Revlon and Maybelline and the entire billion-dollar make-up industry would have gone under if all women adopted her take on life, as she has never worn make-up.
"My concept is that I think I was created beautiful," she explains "and once you have to add on you are not satisfied." Cherry adds that her belief in her own beauty has nothing to do with conceit. "I'm not saying that the world should see me that way. I'm just satisfied with myself." As such, she is not afraid to express that she loves herself. "If you don't love yourself, who can you love?" she declares.
LOOKED LIKE A CHERRY
The 'cherry' in her name was given to her by her father. "When I was a baby, the first time my father saw me, he said I looked like a cherry, because of my complexion." So her infantile redness left her dubbed with the moniker.
"I'm a very passionate person," she says, stating that which is obvious to anyone who speaks to her or hears her perform. Even as she speaks, the passion of her convictions come through. It is not an aggressive voice, however, but it is enough to make one sit up and pay attention.
"I hate injustice," she continues. Cherry explains that her work is a part of her fight against injustice. As such, for her, poetry is not a passive thing.
Known to declare in public that sexism and racism are two first cousins, Cherry easily asserts that issues of sex and race are foremost in her agenda. She says that through her work she hopes to bring "clarity" to the issues of sexism, racism and classism. Indeed, the three sections of Earth Woman 'Tribute to My Sistas', 'Self-Love' and 'Revolutionary Soldiers' tackle the issues which have been present time and again in her poetry.
"I knew from almost the time I came out of my mother's womb that this world aint gonna be nice to me because of my gender," she says by way of explaining that she has always been defending women's rights.
A PHILOSOPHER
Interestingly, Cherry declares that 'poet' is not the title she selects for herself. "I normally think of myself as a philosopher; people call me a poet." It is therefore not surprising that along with her poetry, she has also done motivational speaking. She explains that poetry is the condensed form of her philosophies. "Poetry is the parent and has a lot of little children branching off," Cherry says.
She goes on to explain that through her interest in philosophy she reads widely. Indeed, just before our meeting she popped into a New Kingston bookshop to see if they had anything new.
She even willingly reads philosophers whom she does not agree with completely. Marcus Garvey, Haile Selassie and Simone De Beauvior are among the philosophers whom she most respects. "I like how they invest in dem mind," she says.
Of course, like many avid readers in Jamaica, the shelves of local bookstores are too sparsely stocked to feed the diet. As such, Cherry explains that many of the books that make up her collection are garnered when she travels abroad for poetry workshops or concerts.
Cherry says that the second-hand bookstores to be found in cities around the world help to make her travelling more bearable. "I move to my calling," she says, "but I 'm conservative. I don't like leaving my children to travel."
MID-ENGLAND TOUR
She has managed to do quite a lot of that, though, having been through the Caribbean, including St. Lucia and Barbados; made the trek to Toronto, Canada, for the Dub Poetry Festival; and gone to several US cities, Indiana University being a favourite stop. She has also done a mid-England tour that took her to places like Nottingham and Leicestershire.
Cherry explains that though her younger child, Amari, is 15 years old and her daughter Sachoy is 20, she still feels the need to be home with them. "Being a single parent, I'm the backbone. I have to make sure that they're socially adjusted." Her daughter, who performs under the moniker Little Natural, has been performing with her mother since she was seven years old.
Cherry's belief in action seems to extend beyond poetry. Cherry explains that she exercises every day, a fact that her frame seems to testify to. "If I get up and don't have time to read, or exercise or meditate I don't think I'd be a nice person," she says. "I just love that feeling you get when you exercise."
Cherry's exercise routine, however, is not a case of simply working up a sweat and feeling that fat burn. Instead, Cherry has explored several forms of martial arts and has specified in a Phillipino close contact martial art, modern armis.
Along with her poetry, she also teaches women self-defense. She explained that she will be starting another beginner's group in January, as her current students have graduated to intermediate and advanced classes.
NINE BROTHERS
Though she has nine brothers and she's the eldest sibling, Cherry explains that being a small woman she felt the need to be able to defend herself early in life. "I've found a lot of reasons to defend myself," she says. She also explains that having studied the martial arts since her teenage years she does not have the bearing which suggests that she is a victim.
Cherry has recently had a collection of her poetry published. The book, entitled Earth Woman, sharing the name with an earlier audio collection, was edited by John Galuska. Earth Woman contains Cherry's
poetry, dating from 1989 to 2001. The collection resulted from Galuska's focus on Cherry Natural as a part of his PhD thesis at Indiana University in the USA.
The book is her second, as Come Mek Wi Reason was published in 1989.
Between the two works, Cherry has put out audio tapes and Earth Woman was her first CD.
Her idea of what the future holds is simple. "Just living and doing whatever the universe says I should do," Cherry says.
The final lines of Earth Woman probably sum her up best:
It's hard to stop this one.
I am the finished product of what you are trying to hide.
It's hard to stop this one.
This woman is wild.
This woman is natural.
Cannot be coaxed when the adrenaline flows.
Save your energy.
It's easier to join than to
change me.
