Olive Senior reads poems about hurricanes

The Caribbean Writers Summer Institute has archival video of Olive Senior reading poems from a set called Hurricane Stories about the impact hurricanes of the 20th century had on the people of the West Indies, from 1904 to 1988.

Olive Senior has published two books of poetry: Talking of Trees (1986) and Gardening in the Tropics (1994). She is the author of three collections of short stories: Summer Lightning (1986) which won the Commonwealth Writers Prize in 1987, Arrival of the Snake-Woman (1989) and Discerner of Hearts (1995) and of several non-fiction works on Caribbean culture, including: A-Z of Jamaican Heritage (1984) and Working Miracles: Women's Lives in the English-Speaking Caribbean (1991).

Hurricane Story, 1988

My mother wasn’t christened
Imelda but she stashed a cache
of shoes beneath the bed.

She used to travel to Haiti,
Panama, Curacao, Miami,
wherever there was bargain

to catch – even shoes that
didn’t have match. Back home
she could always find customer

come bend-down to look and talk
where she plant herself on
sidewalk. When the hurricane

hit, she ban her belly and bawl,
for five flights a day to Miami
grounded. No sale and her shoes

getting junjo from the damp (since
the roof decamp) and the rest
sitting in Customs, impounded.

My mother banked between her
breasts, lived out her dreams
in a spliff or two each night.

Since the storm, things so tight
her breasts shrivel, the notes
shrinking. Every night she there

thinking. Every morning she get up
and she wail: Lawd! Life so soak-up
and no bail out. To raatid!

Comments

[john smith]

this is stupid

[Elton]

please send a copy of the poem hurricane story 1951
this poem was great

[danbarkley]

Hey Everyone!

My name is Dan Barkley and I am a law student at the Seattle University School of Law. I also work as one of the Content Development Editors for the Seattle Journal for Social Justice. We are currently working on an issue devoted to the continuing effects of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Because we are an interdisciplinary journal devoted to the mission of furthering social justice issues, we often print poetry and other creative artwork, and it is in this regard I am contacting you. I'm hoping someone (like you, or someone you know) might 1) be interested in having your work featured, or 2) have any ideas of writers who would like their New Orleans and Katrina-related work to be featured in our journal.

We would need submissions by October 24, and I would be very appreciative of any leads you could send me.

Best,

Dan Barkley
Content Development Editor
Seattle Journal for Social Justice

[cammy]

this is a great poem by olive senior, as it is very Caribbean in style and it captivate the interest of the readers as the hurricane is used as a symbolism for change.

[kelly breslin]

i realy like this poem as it is one of the best i9 have read and realy enjoyed reading it

[Lakata]

I'm a student in S.V.G studying Senior's poems. Must say I really like the hurricane stories collection.They are real stories on the Caribbean experience showing the socio-econological changes that occured in the passage of time-the breakdown in family structure and how our dependence on the material things in life ruin us

[Jevarne Beckford]

This is a perfect representaion of what happened; I like it.

[Term Papers]

We often print poetry and other creative artwork, and it is in this regard I am contacting you.

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