Selected Poems

Goodison shares with Derek Walcott a heritage that is both African and European. But she writes from a different perspective. As an English-speaking poet, she writes within that literary tradition, but she also writes with a perspective and sense of place that come exclusively from being a black Jamaican woman, and she incorporates her African heritage with confidence and conviction. She is a writer of rare gifts who richly deserves wider attention." —J. Edward Chamberlain, University of Toronto

"The evocative power of Lorna Goodison's poetry derives its urgency and appeal from the heart-and-mind concerns she has for language, history, racial identity, and gender... [a] bonanza of poignant poems about the lives of women and the familial supremacy of mothers." —World Literature Today

"There's music in these pages, music that begins to trill and thrill on the very first page, and Goodison praises in majestic cadences the names given the land of her native Jamaica...Goodison is a marvelous poet, one to savor and to chant aloud." —Booklist