“...don’ care where ya come from...” — This Thursday at the Museum

Read-IN! is the NCF’s monthly, parish-by-parish spotlight for writers.

Every Crop-Over it kicks up a notch and transforms into an “Event”—one of very few enabling literary artists to showcase nationally in front of a larger, wider audience.

Last year, the NCF took things a step further. There was a soiree-Cohobblopot type ambiance. There was art and craft and food and wine. And the featured writers, backed by musicians, used richly-crafted written word to shape performances that really pushed boundaries between stage and page. (Click here to read part of ArtsEtc’s 2009 Stage vs Page debate.)

This year, Crop-Over Read-IN!’s focus is specifically spoken word and performance. It should be exciting to see where boundaries get pushed this time around.

“…don’ care where ya come from…” is the tagline, and the headliners are Comrade Fatso, a young poet from Zimbabwe, and celebrated US-based, Ghanaian artiste, Heru.

They will be guest-supported by Winston Farrell, and fellow Barbadians, Sonia Williams, Amanda Hoyos-Cummins, DJ Simmons, AZ-Man, Anthony Kellman, Sun Rokk, and Trina Headley. Choreography is by Renee Blackman, music by C4, Pride of Wilson Hill Folk Group, and the Pompasetters Tuk Band. M.C. is Adrian Green.

For those who always lament after missing literary events, “if only I’d known beforehand…” jot this on your calendar right now: Crop-Over Read-IN! 2010, tomorrow, Thursday, July 22, Barbados Museum, 8 p.m.

For ticket and box office information, call the NCF on (246) 424-0909 ext. 232.

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Meanwhile: Also check out updates to ArtsEtc’s website, including the brand new AE Studios. For those who missed our print issues (and for those who still miss our print issues) you can delve into our online archives.

When I need to escape,

I always think of lying

flat on my stomach

near the edge of the

cliff at River Bay in

St Lucy. There is no

noise there (but the

waves’), and the view

and experience of the

ocean spray are beyond

words. It is perfection.

I’ve lost the courage to

physically return there

now, but that mental

journey to the solace

and peace it once

provided me is almost

as gratifying.

As a boy growing up in

Six Men’s, I used to enjoy taking in the view of

sunsets from the location that is now being destroyed to make way for the rich and famous. Of course, I am speaking about the new

marina under construction just south of Six Men’s. This spot has remained my green spot for all these years ... the real memories will

always live on in my heart as I watch the daily destruction and ponder the price of progress.

My green space ...

my green oasis looks blue until it is evening and then, just when the birds go in

it startles softly,

revealing new beauty

and thoughts

go quiet then.

One way of relating to the environment is to understand it as a relationship between what a person sees and what a person hears...My recent poem “Barbados Night” started with the close observation of the way that the waves break at Batts Rock Beach day and night. This led me to think of the nearby urban features of Bridgetown as I sat in a café there one evening. What was I seeing? What sounds could I hear from where I sat? What were other people doing in the town at that moment?

(Picture courtesy Jane Bryce)

Frank Collymore wrote, “I shall always be remembering the sea,” a line that resonates with me, for the sea (not the beach!) is where I go for regular renewal. ... I am also much influenced by the other elements—earth, air, fire. And by concrete.

My oasis
is actually
an area of
rugged rock,
lush greenery
and bush
which I pass
when I go on
my frequent
morning jogs.
This scene
takes me back
to boyhood
days when I
often traversed
such areas. It
always instills
a sense of
peace and
tranquility
in me.