Wheel and Come Again: An Anthology of Reggae Poetry [Paperback]

Kwame Dawes (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2008

This is an anthology to delight both lovers of reggae and lovers of poetry which sings light as a feather, heavy as lead over the bedrock of drum and bass. If in the past Caribbean poetry seemed split between the English literary tradition and the oral performance of dub poetry, Wheel and Come Again brings together work which combines reggae's emotional immediacy, prophetic vision, fire and brimstone protest and sensuous eroticism with all the traditional resources of poetry: verbal inventiveness, richness of metaphor and craft in the handling of patterns of rhythm, sound and poetic structure

Its range is as wide as reggae itself. There are poems celebrating, and sometimes mourning, the lives and art of such creative geniuses as Don Drummond, Count Ossie, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Bob Marley, Big Youth, Bunny Wailer, Winston Rodney, Patra and Garnett Silk. There are poems of apocalyptic vision, fantasy, humour and storytelling; poems about history, culture, politics, religion, art, human relationships and love; poems which employ standard Caribbean English, poems written in Jamaican nation language and many poems which move easily between the two

From its birth in the ghettos of Kingston, reggae has become an international musical language, and whilst Jamaicans are inevitably well represented in this anthology, Wheel and Come Again reflects reggae's universal appeal with contributors from the USA, Canada, Britain, Guyana and St. Lucia. What all have found in reggae is an art with a rich aesthetic which, like the poetry they aspire to write, speaks to the body, mind and spirit, which compels a state of heightened expectancy with its combination of pattern and surprise 'Counting out the unspoken pulse then wheel and come again...'

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Wheel and Come Again is a dancehall session in poetry, taking readers into the heart of reggae, into the seduction of the drum and bass. The poems are not reggae songs without music, not dub poems intended for performance with a band, but poems mixing all the resources of language with the reggae mood, the reggae intelligence and the reggae aesthetic. Featuring poems by almost 40 writers of Caribbean origin, Wheel and Come Again ignites poetic convention with the compelling spirit of reggae. Among the contributors are Canadian poets such as Rachel Manley, Afua Cooper, Lillian Allen, and Olive Senior; UK poets including John Agard, Jean Binta Breeze, and Linton Kwesi Johnson; US writers Opal Palmer Adisa, Fred d’Aguiar, and others; and Island poets such as Edward Baugh, Kamau Brathwaite, and Lorna Goodison. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Kwame Dawes is truly a poet with an international voice and a burgeoning international reputation. Dawes was born in Ghana of Jamaican parents and grew up in Jamaica. He spent time as a child in England, and later studied and taught at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton. He is the founder and lead singer of Ujaama, a reggae band that reunited in 2000 to open the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival in Fredericton. Now a professor of post-colonial literature at the University of South Carolina, Dawes is a frequent presence on the Canadian cultural scene as a consultant on race relations and the arts, and as a commentator on CBC Radio. Dawes’s first collection of poetry, Progeny of Air, won England’s Forward Poetry Prize in 1994. Since then, he has published five collections, including the widely praised Resisting the Anomie. Kwame Dawes is also the editor of Talk Yuh Talk, a collection of interviews with Caribbean poets, and Wheel and Come Again, the landmark anthology of reggae poetry. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Peepal Tree Press Ltd. (September 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1900715139
• ISBN-13: 978-1900715133
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,693,412 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A LESSON IN REGGAE, July 20, 1999

By 

Nancy Tolson (Belchertown, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wheel and Come Again: An Anthology of Reggae Poetry (Paperback)

A refreshing revelation of poetry that moves to the spirit of reggae. This anthology with reggae movements is another "about time" in the publication of Caribbean literature. I salute Kwame Dawes for bringing forth such a rhythmic collection of poems that give homage to so many of the founders of the reggae beat. From Marley to Patra, from the chaos of living in Babylon and beyond. I recommend WHEEL AND COME AGAIN to all lovers and listeners of REGGAE.

5.0 out of 5 stars Reggae Poetry Organizer, April 16, 2003

By 

Geoffrey Philp (Miami, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wheel and Come Again: An Anthology of Reggae Poetry (Paperback)

Kwame Dawes is a brilliant poet, critic, short story writer and now add anthologist. He has put together an anthology that reveals the ethos of our generation.He has, again, pointed us in a useful direction.