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"How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?"
Psalms 137:4
For William and Geraldine Clarke, Portia White and Conrad Kent Rivers.
Canadian Cataloguing Publication Data
Poems.
ISBN 0-919001-12-2 (bound) )-919001-13-0 (pkb.)
I. Title
PS8555.L37S34 C811'.54 C83-098593
PR9199.3.C55S34
Acknowledgments: The Pottersfield Portfolio, Caribe, Ebony (Black) Express News, Scrivener, Skylight, The Antigonish Review, Germination, Poetry Toronto, Origins, Poet's Haus, dandelion and Quarry.
Photography Sources: Black United Front, The Public Archives of Nova Scotia, Dalhousie University Archives, David Middleton.
Cover design: Rudnicki Art Production
Before George went to the
One can't help but admire and be drawn to George. A friend calls him "effervescent". He is also sincere and disarmingly honest. These qualities shine through his writing which is both passionate and reasoned. Yet George is also good humoured and inventive. In February, 1981, he became captivated with computers while working in an underground office of the Metropolitan
George wears his heritage like an emblem with warm pride and gentle enthusiasm. He has read and intently studied the history and literature of Blacks in Nova Scotia, Canada and elsewhere. The history, especially, is important to him and is mirrored in his creative work.
When Black Refugees arrived in
With the publication of this volume of poetry, another chapter of history unfolds. Unlike our ancestral Refugee relatives, we are acutely aware of its importance as an historical event. I can't help but believe the Refugee forebears of George Elliott Clarke sit with me now as I write these words. They are proud as I am proud. They raise their arms in silent salute to this talented grandson.
The beginnings of the African Baptist Church in Nova Scotia date back to 1782 when forty year old
Not all Black Loyalist settlers were Baptist.
The migration of Black Loyalists from
national sea products limitedrt1
locks the ocean to our beds each night,
chains bitter-keen winds to our hearts,
batters us with wrecking storms and debt
until our wives complain
we are cold to touch.
to forget the ocean and wind,
we read our futures in rum.
to abandon the debits and our wives
we land like fish, their carragheen nipples
quivering,
we go to a charmless chapel
of birch benches and hard sermons
and take our burdens to the Lord.
yet, no bread and wine set our tables,
only rations of flour and hog.
ah, national sea products limited
shackles the deeps to our eyes,
clamps the storm-winds to our ears,
fetters us to death by water
or by exposure to banks and trusts.
micmacrt2 windpoems sing
Spring's resurrection,
foretold by the sharp, fused fragrance
of jubilee roses,
and the appearance of shiny, new
blue cars of waves,
cruising the beaches.
knowing this sensual verse,
we ensure fertility.
we prepare a path through the wilderness.
we prepare the Easter Sunrise Service:
blue-grass banjo jamborees,
sepia saints in ivory robes, and the flash
of fish, flapping and flopping,
at the hooked close of a gossamer line
of predatory poetry.
we prepare the way of the Lord.
we who work steel, who
are cold and hard as steel,
who stumble in storms of smoke and blown ash,
like penitent sinners,
to and from gloomy, holy taverns,
have eaten of
have broken the young buds of breasts.
we have seen warm, virginal water run bloody
from flesh firm as solid stone:
we know the honey in that rock.
we have eaten of the lily,
and felt the world kick in our loins,
Lethe surge in our veins.
we know greenhouses of women
bearing sugared yams of children
for the slavemarkets of this world.
why berate the sable night?
why run about, fiery with love,
howling at the frigid moon?
it is futile.
why walk dark
forest paths dreaming of a little
red riding girl to possess?
it is vanity.
why watch the heavens for a sign
of a coming messiah-paramour
who will love you fang for claw,
measure for measure?
no sign will be given.
do not lose faith; wait; endure
unto the end and you will be saved.
The publisher is grateful for the permission granted by the following:
The Minister of State for Multiculturalism and the Multiculturalism Directorate disclaim any responsibility in whole or in part for the views and opinions expressed and for the completeness or accuracy of information included in this publication.
vg1 Africville was a small settlement in the North end of what is now Halifax, Nova Scotia. Africville was settled by former Black American slaves after the War of 1812, but the community's history can be traced back to the 1700s. It was officially founded in the 1840s. Neglect and disregard of the community by the City of Halifax led to its increasingly impoverished state; it was bulldozed by the City of Halifax in the 1960s in an effort to "clean up" the city.
rt1 National Sea Products is a large Canadian fish-processing company, and a major employer in the region.
rt2 An aboriginal people of the region
rt3 In Greek mythology, Circe was a beautiful sorcerer whose spells could turn men into swine.