Can you guess what was Derek Walcott’s favourite breakfast?

Sigrid Nama was arguably Derek Walcott’s closest companion for just over thirty years. In Saint Lucia they lived together at Gros Islet, which may have been his favourite place in the world. Nearing what would have been the Nobel winner’s 89th birthday, and also Nobel Laureates Day—January 23—I sat with her, perchance to learn something new of his quotidian life. Perched on his favourite patio chair from which the revered poet had enjoyed so many Saint Lucian sunsets, I got ready to put my first question to Sigrid, for whom Walcott cooked his first breadfruit in 1986. He passed away on March 17, 2017. 

STAR: What did Derek usually have for breakfast?

Sigrid Nama: He loved breakfast best of all the meals. Breakfast was always the same: scrambled or poached egg, a sardine, two pieces of toast. When it was in season, he would have a slice of avocado and coffee and orange juice. The last toast with orange marmalade, as do the Brits. 

STAR: What were his other favourite foods and drinks?

Sigrid Nama: That’s easy. His favourite foods were Saint Lucian ground provision, with either beef or chicken or fish. That was it, pretty much every day; different ground provisions with a salad and some protein. He liked all the local juices—passion fruit, golden apple, tamarind, guava, soursop—he loved them all. He absolutely loved sorrel. 

STAR: Did he have a favourite joke?

Sigrid Nama: He had lots of jokes but I’ll only tell you this one for print: A mushroom walks into a bar and sits and waits for the bartender to come over but he never does. So he says, ‘Oh bartender, I’d like to have a drink.’ And the bartender says, ‘I don’t serve mushrooms.’ And he says, ‘But what do you mean? I’m a fun guy!’ His jokes were always so silly. 

STAR: How did he spend his day?

Sigrid Nama: Well, everyday he worked on something. Whether writing a play or poetry or painting. That’s what he liked to do and after breakfast that’s just what he would do. Write or paint. Usually write. And then later he would paint, because it takes a lot of paraphernalia. He paints on the spot, not from photographs. He goes to Gros Islet and sits in the street with his easel and the paints. There’s a funny story: little kids, after school, would look to see what he was doing. So they would surround him and ask: ‘Mister, what are you painting?’ And of course he wouldn’t answer. So the kids would say, ‘He deaf.’ So one little kid tries to touch the painting and Derek blurts out in Creole: ‘Pa touché!’ [Don’t touch!] And the kid says, ‘You see, he not deaf!’

STAR: Did he have any hobbies?  Sigrid Nama: Aren’t reading, writing and painting enough? But yes, he liked to swim. That was kind of his relief, sometimes. At the beach at Pigeon Point mostly. Or the Cas-en-Bas beach. 

STAR: Where was his favourite place to go with you?

Sigrid Nama: Well he liked to take rides around Saint Lucia, to random places. We liked to go to Cas-en-Bas often because it was a beach that was quiet. We would go to Bouton and to Soufriere and Vieux Fort and that wonderful place, Fregate Park. Wherever we went for a ride in Saint Lucia, he would be happy as a clam. 

STAR: What was his favourite place in Saint Lucia? 

Sigrid Nama: Well, the Rodney Bay Marina to eat, because it’s close. Cas-en-Bas to swim or to just hang around. But I’d say the beaches. Right where you’re sitting might actually be his favourite place to be.

STAR: Where was his favourite place to travel?

Sigrid Nama: We went to so many places. I think he loved Italy. He was invited there every year and always to a different place. But you can’t leave out Spain, because they also loved him and he liked Spain. One of his favourite cities was Amsterdam; he liked New York too. He was invited practically everywhere in the world. Of course, it was because Derek was Derek. But it’s also because he was a Nobel Prize winner. It happens to all of them, especially for literature. Every country wants to check them out, talk to them.

STAR: How did he feel about parties and visitors?

Sigrid Nama: We were invited mostly to official parties, and some personal ones, but he would love to go when it was the writer’s crowd or contemporaries. He wasn’t really a partygoer at all. For visitors he’d say: ‘Oh no! Are they coming over?’ And I’d say, ‘Yes! They want to get a book signed.’ But nine out of ten times he would be so thrilled with the people when they came, and thought they were interesting. Some of them actually became friends. 

STAR: Did he have a favourite phrase?

Sigrid Nama: Oh yes. I laughed about that. ‘I’m terrified!’ That was his favourite phrase. He was always terrified. I guess no one will ever really understand that. He might have been just apprehensive as to what was going to happen. But he always said: ‘I’m terrified!’

STAR: Did you share a favourite memory?

Sigrid Nama: There are too many. Every time you mention a place or a person, or being there together, having fun . . . It’s a lot of wonderful memories. 

STAR: Did he laugh and cry often?

Sigrid Nama: A lot! He would cry and laugh at a lot. But not at the same time. 

STAR: What did he most wish for Saint Lucia?

Sigrid Nama: He wished for Saint Lucia a good theatre. A proper 250 to 300 seater with a great stage, good lighting, wings for dressing rooms—just a proper theatre. He was very excited at one point when they were thinking of doing it in that meadow by the cinema. It was never done. He so wanted that. To go further, he wanted more attention paid to the arts because of the local talent. That’s Saint Lucia’s asset. You’ll hear of these Saint Lucians who make it and they go out and that’s the best product of Saint Lucia. They go out there and put Saint Lucia on the map. That’s what Derek did. It’s too little appreciated.  Wherever we went, all of a sudden someone would ask: ‘So where’s Saint Lucia?’ He would describe it . . . most of his poetry was about Saint Lucia and it was Saint Lucia’s best advertisement. We would so often get visitors who said: ‘I bought your book and I’m here on vacation because of it. Could I please get it signed?’ 

—Claudia Eleibox