In this unprecedented anthology, acclaimed poets from around the world select poems from their countries of origin to share with a wider audience. Readers will find eloquence, urgency, and idiosyncrasy, poems all in English but springing from drastically varied voices, geographies, and histories. Using an artist’s rather than a scholar’s approach, these poems — chosen out of love and admiration by practicing poets — show the vitality of English deployed by revered and emerging poets in Ghana (selected by Kwame Dawes), India (by Sudeep Sen), South Africa (by Rustum Kozain), the Caribbean (by Ishion Hutchinson and five other Caribbean poets), Canada (by Todd Swift), and the Antipodes: New Zealand (by Hinemoana Baker) and Australia (by Les Murray). Mindful of the contentious history of colonization and its staining of any notion of a unified Anglophone poetics, editors Catherine Barnett and Tiphanie Yanique have created an “anthology of anthologies”: a choral oratorio, a many-accented gathering of voices that invites further discovery and promotes an intra-cultural conversation. Featured poets include: Ama Ata Aidoo, Tatamkulu Afrika, Kofi Anyidoho, Tusiata Avia, Kofi Awoonor, Marion Bethel, Christian Bök, Jenny Bornholdt, Dionne Brand, Kamau Brathwaite, Diana Brebner, Abena Busia, Michelle Cahill, Christian Campbell, Vahni Capildeo, Priya Sarukkai Chabria, Amit Chaudhuri, George Elliot Clarke, Jennifer Compton, Jeremy Cronin, Mahadai Das, Ingrid de Kok, Peter Goldsworthy, Lorna Goodison, Bernadette Hall, Lesbia Harford, Shake Keane, A. M. Klein, Shara McCallum, Bill Manhire, Kei Miller, Arthur Nortje, Kwadwo Opoku-Agyeman, Richard Outram, P. K. Page, Marlene Nourbese Philip, Olive Senior, Mongane Wally Serote, Kenneth Slessor, Kelwyn Sole, Billy Marshall Stoneking, Arundhathi Subramaniam, Habib Tiwoni, Hone Tuwhare, Priscila Uppal, Chris van Wyk, David Wevill, Judith Wright, and many more.
Table of Contents
ANOTHER ENGLISH
INTRODUCTION XIII
by Catherine Barnett and Tiphanie Yanique
PART ONE
AN ANTHOLOGY OF ANTHOLOGIES: THE POEMS
GHANA 3
curated by Kwame Dawes
In the Dungeon - Kwadwo Opoku-Agyemang 5
Cape Coast Town - Kwadwo Opoku-Agyemang 6
Adam and Eve and the New Paradise - Kwesi Brew 7
My God of Songs Was III - Koft Awoonor - 8
Sea Time - Koft Awoonor - 9
The Weaver Bird - Koft Awoonor -12
Totems - Ama Ata Aidoo - 13
Godhorse - Kojo Laing - I5
Watu Wazuri Atukwei Okai 18
Rwanda - Ishmael Fift Annobil - 23
Caliban - Abena Busia - 24
Dying Birth - A. W. Kayper-Mensah - 25
Doctrine & Ethics - Koft Anyidoho - 26
THE CARIBBEAN - 29
(The Bahamas, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Monserrat, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Virgin Islands)
curated by Ishion Hutchinson with Andre Bagoo, Christian Campbell, Kendel Hippolyte, Nicholas Laughlin, and Tiphanie Yanique
from In the Marketplace - Marion Bethel - 31
Iguana - Christian Campbell - 35
from Stone - Kamau Brathwaite - 37
Proem - Martin Carter - 40
Demerara Sugar - Fred D’Aguiar - 41
The Carpenter’s Complaint - Edward Baugh - 42
Yap - Kwame Dawes - 43
To Us, All Flowers Are Roses - Lorna Goodison - 45
What the Oracle Said - Shara McCallum - 49
If We Must Die - Claude McKay - 50
Hello Ungod - Anthony McNeill - 51
Some Definitions for Light (I) - Kei Miller - 52
Epitaph - Dennis Scott - 53
Peppercorn - Olive Senior - 54
A West Indian Poem - Tanya Shirley - 56
Behind God Back - Howard Fergus - 57
Night Vision - Kendel Hippolyte - 59
Saint Joseph at the Music School - Jane King - 62
from The Schooner Flight - Derek Walcott - 63
from Thirteen Studies in Home Economics - Shake Keane - 66
Wind, Water, Fire, Men James .- Christopher Aboud - 70
from Land to Light On - Dionne Brand - 72
from Time is an Unkind Dancer - Vahni Capildeo - 73
They Came in Ships - Mahadai Das - 75
Ode to My Unknown Great-Great-Grandmother - Lelawattee Manoo-Rahming - 77
Peelin Orange - Mervyn Morris - 79
Discourse on the Logic of Language - M. NourbeSe Philip -80
Haiti - Jennifer Rahim - 85
Noontide, Fort Christian - Marvin E. Williams - 87
’Pon Top Bluebeard Castle Hill - Habib Tiwoni - 88
SOUTH AFRICA - 9I
curated by Rustum Kozain
Native’s Letter - Arthur Nortje - 93
In Detention - Chris van Wyk - 95
from The Plumstead Elegies Peter Horn - 96
(To learn how to speak] - Jeremy Cronin - 99
from Walking on Air - Jeremy Cronin - 101
Childhood in Heidelberg - Andries Walter Oliphant - 105
Conjunction - Kelwyn Sole - 107
Our Sharpeville - Ingrid de Kok - 114
Small Passing - Ingrid de Kok - 116
Blessing - Kelwyn Sole - 110
Dark Rider - Tatamkhulu Afrika - 127
from Running Towards Us - Jeremy Cronin - 120
Housing Targets - Kelwyn Sole - 130
THE ANTIPODES: AUSTRALIA - 133
curated by Les Murray
Bones in a Pot - Mary Gilmore - 135
[I’m like all lovers] - Lesbia Harford - 136
Legend - Judith Wright - 138
The Seasons of Fire - Billy Marshall Stoneking - 140
Among the Mountains of Guang-xi Province in Southern China - Robert Gray - 142
Malta - John Forbes - 145
Alcohol - Peter Goldsworthy - 146
From the other woman left under the pillow - Jennifer Compton - 148
Midday Horizon - Philip Hodgins - 149
Edinburgh - Ashlley Morgan-Shae - 150
Five Bells - Kenneth Slessor - 152
from The End of Sail, 1924-1939 - Alan Gould - 157
Living in M-Is&B-n - Margaret Harvey - I58
Short Fall - Jean Frances - 160
Woodwind - Tom Coverdale - 161
THE ANTIPODES: AOTEAROA / NEW ZEALAND - 163
curated by Hinemoana Baker
No Ordinary Sun - Hone Tuwhare - 165
Waka 99 - Robert Sullivan - 167
The Stolen - Marty Smith - 169
On Our Knees or Homage to the Potato - Reihana Robinson - 172
Hotel Emergencies - Bill Manhire - 173
I was a feminist in the eighties - Anne Kennedy - 175
When 1 had a son in his early teens - Lynn Jenner - 178
duck - Bernadette Hall - 179
Yet Another Poem About a Dying Child - Janet Frame - 182
How to live by the sea - Lynn Davidson - 183
Silly Meg Campbell - 184
Snow White’s Coffin - Kate Camp - 185
No Rest - James Brown - 188
Wedding Song - Jenny Bornholdt - 193
Wild Dogs Under My Skirt - Tusiata Avia - 195
INDIA - 197
curated by Sudeep Sen
The Writers - Amit Chaudhuri -199
Insomniac - Amit Chaudhuri - 200
Postmortem - Amitava Kumar - 201
Milk Is Good For You - Amitava Kumar - 204
Epigrams for Life After Forty - Arundhathi Subramaniam - 206
How Some Hindus Find Their Personal Gods - Arundhathi Subramaniam - 207
The Piano Lesson - Michelle Cahill - 209
Käli from Abroad - Michelle Cahill - 210
Identity Crisis - Priscila Uppal - 211
Books Do Hold Me at Night - Priscila Uppal - 212
Everyday Things in My Life - Priya Sarukkai Chabria - 214
Counsel - Sandeep Parmar - 221
Invocation - Sandeep Parmar - 223
Sampati - Vikram Seth - 224
For Philippe Honoré - Vikram Seth - 225
CANADA - 227
curated by Todd Swift
Death of a Young Son by Drowning - Margaret Atwood - 220
Snow Margaret Avison - 231
from Eunoia Christian Bök - 232
Port Diana Brebner - 236
Monologue for Selah Bringing Spring to Whylah Falls - George Elliott Clarke - 239
Flirrup - Mary Dalton - 241
The Machine Gunner - Steven Heighton - 242
Portrait of the Poet as Landscape - A. M. Klein - 244
In Memoriam: A. H. Jr. - David McGimpsey - 251
Even the Gulls of the Cool Atlantic - Joan Murray - 259
Barbed Wire - Richard Outram - 260
After Rain - P. K. Page - 261
The Diver - W. W. E. Ross - 263
Diamonds - David Wevill - 264
Lens - Anne Wilkinson - 267
PART TWO
CURATORS’ FORUM: NOTES AND COMMENTARY ON THE SELECTIONS
Biographical Notes for Regional Curators 273
Essential Poems from Ghana - 277
by Kwame Dawes
The Caribbean: Further Tropics - 288
by Ishion Hutchinson with Andre Bagoo, Christian Campbell, Kendel Hippolyte, Nicholas Laughlin, and Tiphanie Yanique
Twentieth-Century Poems from South Africa - 311
by Rustum Kozain
Favorite Australian Poets - 319
by Les Murray
Fifteen Essential Poems from Aotearoa / New Zealand - 321
by Hinemoana Baker
Modern English Poetry by Indians - 331
by Sudeep Sen
Fifteen Essential Canadian Poems in English - 335
by Todd Swift
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING - 347
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND PERMISSIONS - 355
INTRODUCTION XIII
by Catherine Barnett and Tiphanie Yanique
PART ONE
AN ANTHOLOGY OF ANTHOLOGIES: THE POEMS
GHANA 3
curated by Kwame Dawes
In the Dungeon - Kwadwo Opoku-Agyemang 5
Cape Coast Town - Kwadwo Opoku-Agyemang 6
Adam and Eve and the New Paradise - Kwesi Brew 7
My God of Songs Was III - Koft Awoonor - 8
Sea Time - Koft Awoonor - 9
The Weaver Bird - Koft Awoonor -12
Totems - Ama Ata Aidoo - 13
Godhorse - Kojo Laing - I5
Watu Wazuri Atukwei Okai 18
Rwanda - Ishmael Fift Annobil - 23
Caliban - Abena Busia - 24
Dying Birth - A. W. Kayper-Mensah - 25
Doctrine & Ethics - Koft Anyidoho - 26
THE CARIBBEAN - 29
(The Bahamas, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Monserrat, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Virgin Islands)
curated by Ishion Hutchinson with Andre Bagoo, Christian Campbell, Kendel Hippolyte, Nicholas Laughlin, and Tiphanie Yanique
from In the Marketplace - Marion Bethel - 31
Iguana - Christian Campbell - 35
from Stone - Kamau Brathwaite - 37
Proem - Martin Carter - 40
Demerara Sugar - Fred D’Aguiar - 41
The Carpenter’s Complaint - Edward Baugh - 42
Yap - Kwame Dawes - 43
To Us, All Flowers Are Roses - Lorna Goodison - 45
What the Oracle Said - Shara McCallum - 49
If We Must Die - Claude McKay - 50
Hello Ungod - Anthony McNeill - 51
Some Definitions for Light (I) - Kei Miller - 52
Epitaph - Dennis Scott - 53
Peppercorn - Olive Senior - 54
A West Indian Poem - Tanya Shirley - 56
Behind God Back - Howard Fergus - 57
Night Vision - Kendel Hippolyte - 59
Saint Joseph at the Music School - Jane King - 62
from The Schooner Flight - Derek Walcott - 63
from Thirteen Studies in Home Economics - Shake Keane - 66
Wind, Water, Fire, Men James .- Christopher Aboud - 70
from Land to Light On - Dionne Brand - 72
from Time is an Unkind Dancer - Vahni Capildeo - 73
They Came in Ships - Mahadai Das - 75
Ode to My Unknown Great-Great-Grandmother - Lelawattee Manoo-Rahming - 77
Peelin Orange - Mervyn Morris - 79
Discourse on the Logic of Language - M. NourbeSe Philip -80
Haiti - Jennifer Rahim - 85
Noontide, Fort Christian - Marvin E. Williams - 87
’Pon Top Bluebeard Castle Hill - Habib Tiwoni - 88
SOUTH AFRICA - 9I
curated by Rustum Kozain
Native’s Letter - Arthur Nortje - 93
In Detention - Chris van Wyk - 95
from The Plumstead Elegies Peter Horn - 96
(To learn how to speak] - Jeremy Cronin - 99
from Walking on Air - Jeremy Cronin - 101
Childhood in Heidelberg - Andries Walter Oliphant - 105
Conjunction - Kelwyn Sole - 107
Our Sharpeville - Ingrid de Kok - 114
Small Passing - Ingrid de Kok - 116
Blessing - Kelwyn Sole - 110
Dark Rider - Tatamkhulu Afrika - 127
from Running Towards Us - Jeremy Cronin - 120
Housing Targets - Kelwyn Sole - 130
THE ANTIPODES: AUSTRALIA - 133
curated by Les Murray
Bones in a Pot - Mary Gilmore - 135
[I’m like all lovers] - Lesbia Harford - 136
Legend - Judith Wright - 138
The Seasons of Fire - Billy Marshall Stoneking - 140
Among the Mountains of Guang-xi Province in Southern China - Robert Gray - 142
Malta - John Forbes - 145
Alcohol - Peter Goldsworthy - 146
From the other woman left under the pillow - Jennifer Compton - 148
Midday Horizon - Philip Hodgins - 149
Edinburgh - Ashlley Morgan-Shae - 150
Five Bells - Kenneth Slessor - 152
from The End of Sail, 1924-1939 - Alan Gould - 157
Living in M-Is&B-n - Margaret Harvey - I58
Short Fall - Jean Frances - 160
Woodwind - Tom Coverdale - 161
THE ANTIPODES: AOTEAROA / NEW ZEALAND - 163
curated by Hinemoana Baker
No Ordinary Sun - Hone Tuwhare - 165
Waka 99 - Robert Sullivan - 167
The Stolen - Marty Smith - 169
On Our Knees or Homage to the Potato - Reihana Robinson - 172
Hotel Emergencies - Bill Manhire - 173
I was a feminist in the eighties - Anne Kennedy - 175
When 1 had a son in his early teens - Lynn Jenner - 178
duck - Bernadette Hall - 179
Yet Another Poem About a Dying Child - Janet Frame - 182
How to live by the sea - Lynn Davidson - 183
Silly Meg Campbell - 184
Snow White’s Coffin - Kate Camp - 185
No Rest - James Brown - 188
Wedding Song - Jenny Bornholdt - 193
Wild Dogs Under My Skirt - Tusiata Avia - 195
INDIA - 197
curated by Sudeep Sen
The Writers - Amit Chaudhuri -199
Insomniac - Amit Chaudhuri - 200
Postmortem - Amitava Kumar - 201
Milk Is Good For You - Amitava Kumar - 204
Epigrams for Life After Forty - Arundhathi Subramaniam - 206
How Some Hindus Find Their Personal Gods - Arundhathi Subramaniam - 207
The Piano Lesson - Michelle Cahill - 209
Käli from Abroad - Michelle Cahill - 210
Identity Crisis - Priscila Uppal - 211
Books Do Hold Me at Night - Priscila Uppal - 212
Everyday Things in My Life - Priya Sarukkai Chabria - 214
Counsel - Sandeep Parmar - 221
Invocation - Sandeep Parmar - 223
Sampati - Vikram Seth - 224
For Philippe Honoré - Vikram Seth - 225
CANADA - 227
curated by Todd Swift
Death of a Young Son by Drowning - Margaret Atwood - 220
Snow Margaret Avison - 231
from Eunoia Christian Bök - 232
Port Diana Brebner - 236
Monologue for Selah Bringing Spring to Whylah Falls - George Elliott Clarke - 239
Flirrup - Mary Dalton - 241
The Machine Gunner - Steven Heighton - 242
Portrait of the Poet as Landscape - A. M. Klein - 244
In Memoriam: A. H. Jr. - David McGimpsey - 251
Even the Gulls of the Cool Atlantic - Joan Murray - 259
Barbed Wire - Richard Outram - 260
After Rain - P. K. Page - 261
The Diver - W. W. E. Ross - 263
Diamonds - David Wevill - 264
Lens - Anne Wilkinson - 267
PART TWO
CURATORS’ FORUM: NOTES AND COMMENTARY ON THE SELECTIONS
Biographical Notes for Regional Curators 273
Essential Poems from Ghana - 277
by Kwame Dawes
The Caribbean: Further Tropics - 288
by Ishion Hutchinson with Andre Bagoo, Christian Campbell, Kendel Hippolyte, Nicholas Laughlin, and Tiphanie Yanique
Twentieth-Century Poems from South Africa - 311
by Rustum Kozain
Favorite Australian Poets - 319
by Les Murray
Fifteen Essential Poems from Aotearoa / New Zealand - 321
by Hinemoana Baker
Modern English Poetry by Indians - 331
by Sudeep Sen
Fifteen Essential Canadian Poems in English - 335
by Todd Swift
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING - 347
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND PERMISSIONS - 355