January 23, 2012

Happy B-Day, DW

I dig, dig, dig this poet! Derek Walcott, a contemporary poet of ours (born 23 January 1930), was of the first poets I read who touched deeply on race and the struggle of ethnic identity. I did a commentary on a poem of his a couple years ago titled, A Far Cry from Africa- a poem riddled with utter intensity, one that contemplates the hideous act of genocide, and to date my favorite of his. I’ll leave a link below if you think you can handle the read- seriously, brace yourself …

Happy birthday, DW …

2 comments:

BerlinerinPoet said...

Powerful stuff...I was blown away! I only became aware of Derek Walcott when the rest of America did. When Mr. Obama was seen reading his poetry. I've read quite a bit since then, and really loved it.

John W. May said...

Wow, didn't know the pres was a fan of him- but it doesn't suprise me ... Walcott is a pretty worthy poet!

When you say "when the rest of America did" do you mean after 9/11?

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