Velma Pollard has been an essential voice of Jamaica and the Caribbean ever since her first collection was published in 1988. And Caret Bay Again draws from four previous collections – Crown Point (1988), Shame Trees Don’t Grow Here (1993), The Best Philosophers I Know Can’t Read and Write (2004) and Leaving Traces (2008) – and a substantial set of new poems.
All are full of Velma Pollard’s hallmark maturity, reflection and quiet integrity in the face of personal and political tragedy. We also see the progression over time of a poet with her finger on the pulse of change over nearly three decades, but also an eye for what endures – be it the natural beauty of the Caribbean, or the racial and gender inequalities that lurk beneath.
“One of Jamaica’s and the Caribbean’s pre-eminent women poets... a mature poet completely at ease with her own voice.”
The Caribbean Review of Books
Velma Pollard is a writer, researcher and educator from Jamaica. In addition to her poetry, her prose work appears in Considering Woman I & II, published by Peepal Tree in 2010. Her novella Karl won the prestigious Casa de las Americas Prize in 1992.