Image by geoffrey_philp via FlickrA Biography
The first journey was to find her. Freed her --
she had twisted the sunlight round feather and face
mewled anger at the Tree
astonished him with teeth.
He bled a long time after.
The second recovered every petal
storm had struck off into city, sky, season.
Found one in the hand of a man dying,
could hardly take it; another pressed thin
by the sea’s weight – brought that up with coral
stamped on its silk. One
had never touched earth, perhaps, turning
like a candle in each wind, till he ate it.
Third time, spat. Rooted himself in the wet place
under its growing shadow
closed eye, mouth, shut up his hearing
drew the skin tight on his bones
stopped his breath
and became still.
Hummed over his head
sipping from that flower
the bright bird.
His, finally.
Dennis Scott was born in Jamaica in 1939. He had a distinguished career as a poet, playwright, actor (he was Lester Tibideaux in The Cosby Show), dancer in the Jamaican National Dance Theatre, an editor of Caribbean Quarterly and teacher. His first collection, Uncle Time (1973) was one of the first to establish the absolutely serious use of nation language in lyric poetry. His other poetry collections include Dreadwalk (1982) and Strategies (1989). His plays include Terminus, Dog, Echo in the Bone, and Scott’s work is acknowledged as one of the major influences on the direction of Caribbean theatre. He died at the early age of fifty-one in 1991.
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