Lyrical brilliance from a lost Caribbean voice. A debut collection that redefines the canon

Much admired by Nobel laureate Derek Walcott, the poetry of the St Lucian poet Irvin Desir is published here for the first time. Often visionary, these poems contain such images as “fireflies heave for heaven” and “you filled this cluttered room like a handful of clove”. Published in only a few anthologies during his life, this posthumous collection at last brings to our attention a voice too long unknown.

Islander vii

I shall see you through the cold shoreline
where the wind carries and slides over the sand

wherever we search death haunts us
everywhere the distracted petals have gone

our words fade, fade like mist over the mountain
our words add to the silence like lifting dust.