Geoffrey Philp's Blog: A Recap of 2018

I'm beginning to worry about my blog. Last year, I only had 26K visitors, which is down 9.97% from the previous year. However, the standouts from previous years are still holding strong. Here, then, are the top ten posts from 2018:

1. The Meaning(s) of Bob Marley's Songs"

2. "Little Boy Crying" by Mervyn Morris: An Appreciation
3. "Colonial Girls School" by Olive Senior: An Appreciation
4. "Ode to Brother Joe" by Tony McNeill (Read by Geoffrey Philp)
5. Marcus Garvey's Crime (Part One)
6. "Uncle Time" by Dennis Scott (Read by Geoffrey Philp)
7. Happy Independence Day, Haiti!
8. Garveyism is an Outdated Ideology: A Rebuttal
9. 25 Foundational Rocksteady Songs: Winston Barnes
10. "Boat People" by Felix Morisseau-Leroy

I've also picked up more visitors from South Africa than the previous year, which is up by 24.2%. and I'm happy that "Boat People" by Felix Morriseau-Leroy has finally made it into the top ten.  The work of Felix Morisseau-Leroy should never be forgotten.

A big thank you to all the visitors, especially those who have continued to support the books on my Amazon page, and I wish for you all the happiness, joy, and peace that you can imagine. 

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Miranda - N°7 - Geoffrey Philp, Dub Wise: Review

Miranda - N°7 - Geoffrey Philp, Dub Wise: 

"With this new collection, it is quite clear that Philp embodies the continuation of a Caribbean tradition of criticism and creative writing. Indeed, his style is deeply reminiscent of Derek Walcott’s poetry, densely metaphorical in "Beyond Mountain View". But it also bears the influence of Kamau Brathwaite’s more pared-down couplets in "Limbo: Version". His "Ode to Brother Joe: Version" updates a poem by the late Tony McNeill, "Ode to Brother Joe", about a Rastafarian elder lost in Babylon. "Warner Woman: Version" is dedicated to Edward Baugh and is, of course, a take on his famous "Warner Woman". The word "version" in these titles testifies to the influence of reggae culture on Philp. This word refers to an instrumental or a dub version of a well-known reggae tune."

To read more, please follow this link: http://www.miranda-ejournal.fr/sdx2/miranda/article.xsp?numero=7&id_article=Article_17-335




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(For Anthony McNeill on All Saints' Day) by Jennifer Rahim

To tell you the truth, 

I’ve been thinking about Tony,

if he would permit that familiarity.

I met only his verse.

I’ve been thinking poetry –

it should  always be brave

or else it cannot speak, and his was,

the way true courage is:

an amity with what we fear –

not crude disclosure, that bogus bravado

of those too weak to suffer well.

No, courage is never that cheap.

It both upbraids and heals us –

makes the faithless see ghosts

in the face of what is real;

yet, waits like love while we lament

what we hope dead, only so we

may never have to be brave, –

if that means an apprenticeship

to the sufferer’s beat.

I’ve been thinking of you, Tony,

and the self your lines vested

in a shining that strikes blind

our well-managed lives,

sends us stumbling in-

sight – that was your calling

to redeem us with. Tony,

I have been looking, this day,

for your light among the saints.

© Jennifer Rahim, 2011 

Jennifer Rahim is Trinidadian. She is a Senior Lecturer in Literature in the Department of Liberal Arts at The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine. Her essays on Caribbean literature have appeared in MaComere, The Journal of West Indian Literature, Small Axe, Anthurium and BIM. She edited, with Barbara Lalla, Beyond Borders: Cross Culturalism and the Caribbean Canon (UWI Press 2009) and Created in the West Indies: Caribbean Perspectives on V.S. Naipaul (Ian Randle, 2010). Her poetry collections include: Between the Fence and the Forest (Peepal Tree Press, 2002), Approaching Sabbaths (Peepal Tree Press, 2009) and Redemption Rain (TSAR, 2011). She has one collection of short stories, Songster and Other Stories (Peepal Tree Press, 2007). Approaching Sabbaths was awarded a Casa de las Américas Prize in 2010. 

Interview: Conduit Show with Sheron Hamilton-Pearson

Here's my interview on the Conduit Show with Sheron Hamilton-Pearson on Sunday, July 17, 2011. Some of the topics included:

Mentors
Bob Marley
Online Petition for Marcus Garvey's Exoneration
Marcus and the Amazons
Writing process
Reggae Aesthetic
"To be a writer, you need the discipline of a warrior and the whimsy of a fool."

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/16075458

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