Inspired by Debret (A Poem in Progress) – #CCF Guest Response

June 10, 2014May 20, 2015Leave a comment

Out of the belly of time the old becomes the new…
Through the leaves the shadowy susurrus moo’s
of cows long gone on a cooling breeze
a congregation of laptops in ordered pews
ready for Wi-Fi communion to send receive
images and words far beyond this once milking parlour
Though I saw one stabled cow on the way in met by those
lowering eyes, Annalee’s outstretched hands, rows of books
ordered by Dewey ready to reap secrets from me

The above is the first stanza from Dorothea Smartt’s guest response to Vasco Araujo’s Debret collection, which took the form of a poem for this week’s addition to the Fresh Milk Books Tumblr – the online space inviting interaction with our collection in the Colleen Lewis Reading Room.

For new Critical. Creative. Fresh reviews every week, look out for our #CCF Weekly and see the good reads we have available at Fresh Milk!

About Dorothea:

Dorothea Smartt is a poet, live artist and literary activist. Her work may be viewed in Out of Bonds, RED: Contemporary Black British Poetry and Ship Shape, a collection Carole Boyce Davies describes as “blues-y, well crafted poems…reveal a poetic intelligence…maturity of form and content […] the best of her generation…”

A Kind of Right to be Idle – #CCF Guest Review

June 3, 2014May 20, 2015Leave a comment

…A part of me wanted to write a poem in reponse to Karl Watson’s A Kind of Right to be Idle: OLD DOLL Matriarch of Newton Plantation – so I did. The overall journey varied: from feeling as though the horizons of my perspectives on Plantation Slavery in Barbados had become more nuanced; through amusement at the tribulations and industrial action the female enslaved put the managers through; to suspicion of the real motives behind the apparent forbearance of the absentee owners and managers toward the troublesome family; to a final cynical fulfilment as my suspicions were proven… Why on earth did the author write the book the way he wrote it?

The above excerpt is from Ayesha Gibson-Gill’s guest review of of Karl Watson’s A Kind of Right to be Idle: OLD DOLL Matriarch of Newton Plantation, which took the form of a poem for this week’s addition to the Fresh Milk Books Tumblr – the online space inviting interaction with our collection in the Colleen Lewis Reading Room.

For new Critical. Creative. Fresh reviews every week, look out for our #CCF Weekly and see the good reads we have available at Fresh Milk!

About Ayesha:

Ayesha Gibson-Gill is the Cultural Officer of Literary Arts at Barbados’ National Cultural Foundation (NCF), West Terrace, St. James. You may contact Ms. Gibson-Gill at (246) 417-6625.

Academic Digest: Intangible Economies – #CCF

May 31, 2014May 20, 2015Leave a comment

Fillip Magazine’s Intangible Economies (2012) tackles the abstract nature of economy in relation to cultural production. Set in the world of cultural/artistic production, the works in this anthology build on the provocative premise of its introduction, providing specialised analyses of the concept of economy as an institutionalised value system. My response offers a brief look at “Intangible Economies”, the introductory chapter of the anthology. It took me three reads to grasp the salient ideas being expressed in the introductory chapter of the journal (the Footnotes were a saviour !). Making reference to Mauss’ theory of ‘the gift’, Derrida’s theory of representation and the ‘symbolic order’ and Marx’s theory of alienation, Hirsch’s articulation of the relationship between affect and economy raises challenging questions about the value of cultural production in a capitalist economic system.

The above excerpt is from Amanda Haynes’ review of Fillip Magazine’s edition Intangible Economies (2012) , this week’s addition to the Fresh Milk Books Tumblr – the online space inviting interaction with our collection in the Colleen Lewis Reading Room.

For new Critical. Creative. Fresh reviews every week, look out for our #CCF Tuesdays and see the good reads we have available at Fresh Milk!

John Berger Makes Me Dizzy – #CCF

May 22, 2014May 20, 2015Leave a comment

How can I review a John Berger book? How do I gather my thoughts on his thoughts, simplify them and concisely and articulately present them in a 500 word summary? I can’t. Whether through my own honest inability or fear of even trying (I’ll give myself the answer to that later), I found it impossible to do. But under the watchful eyes of two of my teammates here at Fresh Milk (Katherine and Amanda) I feel I must say a little something about the man in the photo above.

John Berger is a writer, a poet, and an intellectual. He is one of the few minds of the 20th century able to dissect a wide range of matters and re-present them with precision and clarity. John Berger Selected Essays is a compilation of some of the most prolific writings of his career. The editor, Geoff Dyer, has gathered works from a number of his collections, including: “The Look of Things” (1972), “About Looking” (1980) and “The White Bird” (1985).

The above excerpt is from Versia Harris’ review on Selected Essays of John Berger, this week’s addition to the Fresh Milk Books Tumblr – the online space inviting interaction with our collection in the Colleen Lewis Reading Room.

For new Critical. Creative. Fresh reviews every week, look out for our #CCF Weekly and see the good reads we have available at Fresh Milk!

Frantz Fanon & the Pursuit of ‘the White Girl’ – #CCF

May 15, 2014May 20, 2015Leave a comment

Photo by Sølve Sundsbø

The objectification of the white woman immediately caught my attention. She was to be used: for sexual gratification, to fulfill a ‘ritual of initiation into “authentic manhood”’ (Fanon 52), to ‘de-racialize’ the black man. Wait…what? De-racialize the black man? Fanon’s socio-economic background meant a white partner would have gone a considerable way in establishing his status in society. As for me, while still an ignorant youngster, I always knew that the fairer a girl’s complexion, the prettier she was. It was a fact, but I didn’t know why—just like how Jeun Veneuse, as Fanon noted, didn’t know why he loved Andreé. However, unlike Veneuse and Fanon, I wasn’t acutely aware that there was a problem with my skin colour that needed correcting.

The above excerpt is from Ronald Williams’ review of the chapter ‘The Man of Colour and the White Woman’ in Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks, this week’s addition to the Fresh Milk Books Tumblr – the online space inviting interaction with our collection in the Colleen Lewis Reading Room.

For new Critical. Creative. Fresh reviews every week, look out for our #CCF Tuesdays and see the good reads we have available at Fresh Milk!