Tanya Batson-Savage, Freelance WriterThe Calabash International Literary festival has managed to outstrip boredom with two elements. First, it usually offers a high calibre of writers for the three-day festival at Jake's in Treasure Beach, St. Elizabeth. Secondly, it either offers something new or improves upon an earlier offering each year.
Calabash brand
This year, a part of what is new to the Calabash brand is an offering of six chapbooks by poets in the Calabash Writers Workshop being promoted under the heading 'A Six Pack for the Soul'. The public was offered a touch of these literary crunches at the launch of the festival at Redbones the Blues Café, New Kingston on Friday, March 4, 2005, through readings by the six poets.
The reading began with Blacka Ellis, who declared he would be "reading from memory". His first attempt to do this with 'Come Eat' had to be abandoned however as he failed to remember the poem in its entirety. "And I was just getting to like it," said one disappointed woman in the audience when he had to abort the sexy play on food. The alternative was the title poem of his chapbook 'Gateman', a hilarious take on a power crazed security guard,
followed by 'The Unsung Guitar'.
Ellis was followed by Saffron
whose collection is Soft Flesh. After reading a poem for her son and 'Fruit Picker II', Saffron ended with the title poem of the book. Ishion Hutchinson whose collection is titled Bryan's Bay also delivered three poems: 'Homecoming', 'Happy Grove' and 'Slice Mango'.
Andrew Stone (In Disguise) began his reading with 'After Math' and 'A Woman Walking Home After Work'. Both poems gave perspectives on women, the first depicted an abused woman remembering an incident of abuse while the second dealt with a woman who recognises the economic value of sex.
Niki Johnson whose collection is dubbed Weights and Measures delivered what she called "one of her Anthony poems" followed by 'Creed'. For the latter poem, Johnson attempted, with relative success to get the audience to act as her chorus.
Mbala was the final poet of the night. Accompanying himself on flute, he delivered 'Water Fi Di Fire Bun'a Dem', and the title poem of his collection 'Light in a Book of Stone'. He ended with 'Wud Boom'.
Kwame Dawes, the chapbook series editor revealed that he was very pleased that the books were being produced by Calabash. Explaining that though chapbooks are usually self-published, the real descriptive trait is their size. Dawes said that the chapbook should help to gain the poets some exposure. He noted that while it is difficult to find a publisher for poetry, having "editorial scrutiny" is important.
Saffron pointed to that difficulty in finding a publisher. She explained that while she has previously attempted to interest publishers in producing one of her collections, her attempts had not been fruitful. Stone admitted to not previously having ambitions to produce a collection. "I never really intended to be a poet," he said, explaining that music is his first love.
Dawes said that the festival, in its role as publisher, is looking toward a future which includes producing novels. In collaboration with Peepal Tree Press, the festival has produced a 50th anniversary edition of John Hearne's Voices Under the Window. The Calabash International Literary Festival will take place on the weekend of May 27 - 29.
