Providential , by Colin Channer (Peepal Tree Press/Akashic Books, 96 pp, ISBN 9781845232481) In movements punctuated by chevron stripes, Jamaica-born, US-based Colin Channer uses his first book of poems to tread water in the hostility of the protective services. Herein are pepper-tongued anti-odes to a cruel cop father-figure, offset by softer exhortations to a young son whose tenderheartedness wells convincingly in vulnerable verses. Longlisted for the 2016 OCM Bocas Prize, Providential tugs the militia into the mainstream, sparing no scrutiny of either aggressive truncheon-wielders or their intended civilian flock. These poems contend shrewdly with the rule of law, darting both playfully and seriously into the grey spaces where officials both uphold and dismantle their rightful offices. “Watch me as I walk through screens of ganja blissment, hiding anger, sudden drops, hot feelings and dog mess,” the speaker of “Porter’s Prayer” invokes, summoning a panorama shot through with sirens and other sounds of alarm. Fear stalks everyone, police and pursued, and Channer’s poems arrest us to that truth in syncopated, shocking fevers.
The Protector’s Pledge , by Danielle Y.C. McClean (CreateSpace, 223 pp, ISBN 9781502958457) In The Protector’s Pledge, thirdplace winner of the 2016 CODE Burt Award for Caribbean Literature, the sylvan pathways within the sleepy enclave of Alcavere are Trinidadian forestroutes in all but name. Trinidadborn, US-based McClean brings us remote village life and melds it to the hoof beat, serpent hiss, and jumbie bird screeching of folkloric goings-on. To JV, the intrepid schoolboy explorer who contends with the thickets of the Oscuros Forest, the woods’ secrets are by turns frightful and frolicsome. JV’s quest to preserve what’s most precious to the village of Alcavere, and to himself, takes him deeper into Oscuros’ threatening, tantalising maw. McClean plots his journey with all the daring and page-turning intrigue of a hair-raising romp, embellishing the chase with plants, place names, and portents that all signal to a proudly positioned island home. Reviews by Shivanee Ramlochan, Bookshelf editor WWW.CARIBBEAN-AIRLINES.COM
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