The Poetry of Derek Walcott 1948-2013 was launched at Government House. Guests at the event were honoured with recitals from international poets Sudeep Sen, Caryl Phillips and others. The book’s editor, Glyn Maxwell, gave anecdotes on his relationship with Hon Derek Walcott and the monumental task he faced in deciding which of Mr Walcott’s many poems should be included in the book. They were further thrilled when Mr Walcott read to them extracts of poetry from his new book.
Mamai Kwéyòl entertained the guests with a popular selection of folk music that Mr Walcott, accompanied by Claudia Edwards, Natalie La Porte and Gandolph St Clair could not resist taking the mic for a sing-along…in Creole, of course!
Even the most gifted intellects fall into the trap of tribalism. I am simply grateful to be alive is sufficient enough, you don’t need to isolate yourself into being a coward to the expectations of others. What exactly does it mean to be a St. Lucian? There is no answer to this because the question is so dumb. If you have to explain what is a St. Lucian, then you need to embrace all her qualities from the mallawahe to the Cap Estatians, and this is a vast layered society of beautiful ugliness. So Derek’s gratefulness is for all things Lucian and in turn for all of humanity.