A “new poet” says thanks…

So here I am, back in my city home. I returned last night, my hair very tangled and my forearms slightly brown, with a bag full of scribbled papers. With a head full of words. Warning: This post includes many “thank you’s”…

Yes, I am back from a long weekend in the country. But not any old weekend. This was a special one, for me: The Drawing Room Project’s Writers’ Retreat led by the esteemed Jamaican poet Christine Craig, at Country Thyme in Highgate, St. Mary. The Drawing Room Project is the brainchild of Millicent Graham, a wonderful young Jamaican poet, alumna of the Iowa International Writing Program and author of “The Damp in Things,” published by Peepal Tree Press.

The overwhelming scent of jackfruit is in the air, in St. Mary. It’s an acquired taste – a little cloying.

We drove down from Kingston on Labour Day. We passed groups of people chopping and cleaning and painting and sweeping – more of them in the country than in the town. We bought lychees at Castleton. We crossed the new bridge built by the Chinese and drove up into the hills. At Clonmel, a gap-toothed girl in a little pink top waved us down. Her name was Shakira. A tree laden with huge lobes of jackfruit stood nearby. Grandpa sat in the doorway, kind eyes shining. We bought hog plums in small plastic bags, and drove on, up and between the sweet green hills.

One corner of the garden at Country Thyme, which was filled with fruit. Several kinds of mangoes, guava, cinnamon, pimento, cashew, jackfruit, naseberry, banana, rose apple… You name it!

Country Thyme is on a breezy hilltop, set in a garden filled with fruit and spice trees. You can smell the spice as you climb out of the car. Every day, we met under a white tent with open sides, at one end framing two casuarina trees where parrots occasionally perched. The “John-Chewit” bird (a vireo) joined us mid-morning and mid-afternoon for a conversation, flying from tree to tree around us. Thank you Country Thyme!

 

Christine Craig was a calm presence. She listened so carefully, chin in hand. We were a slightly unruly group of women – yes, all women, from Jamaica, Florida, Puerto Rico, Canada – at times loud and feisty, at others quiet and thoughtful. We laughed a lot and there were even a few tears. As a writer of prose, innocent and unaware of the mysteries of poetry, I was quite surprised. Poets have always intimidated me. I am still in awe of them. But our group was passionate, argumentative, even a little contentious at times, humorous and witty; I started to feel right at home. Among other topics, we discussed musicality of language, as well as imagery and metaphors and how to extend them (or try to) throughout a poem. We “workshopped” each others’ poems. We read and discussed Brathwaite and Walcott,  Thank you to Christine, and to all the great poets I spent time with!

Under the White Tent.

Saturday evening came around, after a second day of thunderstorms. A busload of intrepid poets from Kingston arrived – the Poetry Society of Jamaica, one of the sponsors. (Thank you all!)  Most of our group read a poem each, and so did many of our guests – including two poets from Highgate and from Clarendon, respectively. Then Christine wove the magic spell of her own poems, from the beautiful collection “All Things Bright and Quadrille for Tigers” published by Peepal Tree Press. Thank you, Peepal Tree! Oh, I read too. It was a chilly and damp evening, but hot chocolate and poetry warmed us all up beautifully.

Lesley-Ann Wanliss was among the Kingston-based poets who read on Saturday evening.

I mentioned storms, didn’t I? On Friday and Saturday, a great wind swept up the hill from the mountains of St. Andrew, pulling great sheets of rain along after it. Thunder echoed around us and lightning flickered in the valley below. What did we do? We pulled our shawls around us against the chill and carried on, while the rain pelted down. The only problem was that, as the weekend continued, our chair legs started sinking, deeper and deeper, into the lawn and the table started to tilt. We hung on, kept our balance, and continued.

Jamaica Hardanga embroidery.

The workshop was carefully designed to include the local community, some of whom joined us on Saturday evening. The ladies from Jamaica Hardanga Heritage Trust were there, with their fine hand-embroidered linens; they are a group of 24 St. Mary women who work from home. We had the amazing, mystic furniture of Mr. Gilbert Nicely of Gayle, St. Mary; his youngest daughter is following in his footsteps. We are lucky enough to have six Nicely pieces at home. They’re irresistible. (You can find Facebook pages for these great rural artisans).

Some of the Nicelys’ smaller pieces. Solid, beautiful, natural shapes.

On Sunday, we enjoyed a demonstration of bammy making by hand, as well as how castor oil and coconut oil are made. We rubbed castor oil into our skin and hair and admired each other.  Thank you Norman and everyone who participated, including two serious young boys who fetched and carried from the kitchen.

Norman uses the pestle and mortar.

And the food? How could I not have mentioned the food? Our chef Mark provided much fuel for our deliberations. Curry mutton and roti, pan chicken, plantain porridge, hominy corn porridge, ackee and salt fish, escoveitch fish, roast chicken, mackerel rundown, stamp and go… need I go on? Delicious, natural Jamaican fare cooked with the produce of the land and the Country Thyme farm. Mid-morning and mid-afternoon, coffee and delicious natural juice appeared under the mango tree near The White Tent. Thank you Mark and all the wonderful staff!

Tasting cocoa seeds from the pod. Delicious!

Our final session came around, and I felt sad that I would soon be leaving this quiet, comfortable country place, and this fascinating and diverse group of women. At one point, I thought we would all have blown away, over the hills and through the billowing clouds in our White Tent, in the swirling wind and thunder, with Christine Craig asking us calmly, “Now, what do you think of Brathwaite’s use of musicality in this poem?”

Poet and founder of The Drawing Room Project Millicent Graham (left) enjoys a lively interview with Jamaican publisher and writer Tanya Batson-Savage of BlueMoon Publishing on Saturday evening.

This newly-fledged poet brought back cocoa balls, tamarind balls, neem tree leaves and wild celery. I brought back two new poems, making a grand total of five written by me. And a treasured new book, by Christine Craig, in which she wrote: “For Emma, new poet. Welcome to the life! One heart, Christine.”

So here I am. This new poet is grateful.

Special thanks to the sponsors of the Writers’ Retreat: Country Thyme, JN Foundation, Jamaica Tourist Board, Eden Gardens Wellness Resort, Bookophilia, Jamaica Producers, Peepal Tree Press and the Poetry Society of Jamaica. We are very grateful to you all for supporting the creative arts. The weekend was fruitful indeed (you will see).

Hard to say which is my favorite poem in this book (so far, as it will likely change). But “Travelling” comes close.