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Multiculture Abroad

Merle Collins

They want me to write a poem
a poem like the natives write
about sand and sea and sunshine
and exotica like that.

They want me to speak a poem
a poem like they say West Indians speak
about rice and peas and carnivals and mango trees
and multicultural things like that.

They want me to perform a poem
a poem like they say the Blacks perform
with black english and tenor pans
and bongo drums and musical stuff like that

They want me to write a poem
a poem that would prove how multi culture is
and it makes me think about living here and
writing there and migratory stuff like that


Merle Collins

from Penguin Modern Poets: Jackie Kaye, Merle Collins, Grace Nichols, vol. 8, series 2 (London: Penguin, 1996)

Reproduced by kind permission of the author.

Tags:

citizenship Grenada migration multiculturalism stereotypes The Caribbean writing poetry

About this poem

This poem, representing Grenada, is part of The Written World – our collaboration with BBC radio to broadcast a poem from every single nation competing in London 2012.

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Merle Collinsb.1950

Born in 1950, Merle Collins grew up in Grenada. After graduating with a degree in English and Spanish from the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, she returned to Grenada to teach, and in 1980 was awarded a...
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