Customer Reviews

Mutabaruka: The First Poems / The Next Poems (Double Volume)

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Mutabaruka is back in a beautiful book with perfect heft. It feels good in the hand. It offers a feast of creole poetry that sings in the mind. It appeals to Jamaica lovers, Rastafarian scholars, libertarians of all kinds looking to share riddim ravings and reasonings. Paul Issa's careful and considerate editing of Muta's powerful songs make the reading easy and the quality paper and print compliment the striking cover and clever dual-design. This book makes a special gift for island lovers and is a tribute to poetry rebels everywhere. Anyone who has heard Muta's voice on these poems will hear them "in your mind, in your mind, in your mind" while looking at them on the page. It's a brilliant translation from dub performance to print where little is lost. Professor Mervyn Morris's two Introductions provide useful context. This double book is a first rate product with authentic appeal for specialist and layperson alike.

This is an unusual and enthralling collection for a number of reasons. The format is brilliant; his early poems are presented under a cover on one side and if you flip the book over, the new ("Next") poems stand on their own, under another cover. I was stuck by Mutabaruka's innovative word play; he's expressive on many levels and the fact that much of this is in Jamaican vernacular makes for an almost Chauceresque reading experience; you "hear" the poems as much as you read them. His is a powerful voice, with strong spiritual and geopolitical threads running throughout. No matter if you read the new poems first or the first ones first, it's a literary journey well worth taking and taking again.
Bob Merlis, author of Heart & Soul: A Celebration of Black Music Style in America, 1930-1975

"If you're looking for an insight to Jamaica's underbelly - poverty, violence, racism and classism, Mutabaruka is one stop shopping. His lyrical beautiful poems reach out and grab you by the ears and take you for a turbulent ride across a sea of hot topics.

But it's not all gloom and doom. Muta's brilliant exciting verse is sprinkled with love and a wicked sense of humor. He navigates our ship with cool calm confidence. And you don't have to be Jamaican to 'andastan' his work. He's more than a poet. He's a prophet.

My favorite poem of the collection is "Butta Pan Kulcha."

I discovered Mutabaruka when vacationing in Jamaica and was delighted to find this collection of his new and current poems. Every time I read one I feel like I was transported back to that wonderful island and the friendly people.