SX Salon: a small axe literary platform

Dear Friends of the Small Axe Project, 

The June issue of sx salon is now available online. Three of our discussion articles in this issue of sx salon—Mervyn Morris’s speech at the JCDC (Jamaica Cultural Development Commission)  Literary Awards Ceremony, the words of young writers influenced by Morris, and Michael Bucknor’s discussion of Edward Baugh’s Black Sand—raise the question of poetic influence. How does a young poet find his or her voice? How do established poets help these young poets distinguish themselves from their influence? What does the arc of a poet’s work look like? Both Morris and Baugh loom large in defining the answers to these questions in the field of Caribbean poetry. The first article in our discussion section—Kathryn Martins’s “Chasing Our Ghosts” is also concerned with the question of influence but in visual art rather than poetry. Martins’s dream conversation with photographer Abigail Hadeed deftly depicts the haunting nature of muses and the import of influence. 

Our reviews section also begins with poetry: Andre Bagoo, who recently published the collection BURN, reviews Difficult Fruit by Lauren K. Alleyne and The Butterfly Hotel by Roger Robinson. Bagoo’s review is followed Sherry-Ann Singh’s review of the much-discussed Coolie Woman: The Odyssey of Indenture by Gaiutra Bahadur; Régine Michelle Jean-Charles’s review of the second collection of short stories from Haiti in the Akashic Noir series, edited again by Edwidge Danticat; and Paul Joseph López Oro’s contextualization of Sonja Stephenson Watson’s ambitious overview, The Politics of Race in Panama: Afro-Hispanic and West Indian Literary Discourses of Contention. In this issue, we also publish original poetry from Susannah Rodriguez Drissi, and Patrick Sylvain.

Last in the table of contents, but certainly not least, especially when we are discussing the question of influence, is an interview with the inimitable Erna Brodber. Petal Samuel conducts a conversation with the Jamaican writer that speaks to the heart of what motivates her work and shapes her writing. 

We hope you enjoy reading this issue of sx salon. Please share widely.

Kelly Baker Josephs

Table of Contents

Introduction and table of contents—Kelly Baker Josephs

Reviews
Difficult Fruit, by Lauren K. Alleyne, and The Butterfly Hotel, by Roger Robinson—Andre Bagoo 
Coolie Woman: The Odyssey of Indenture, by Gaiutra Bahadur—Sherry-Ann Singh
Haiti Noir 2: The Classics, edited by Edwidge Danticat—Régine Michelle Jean-Charles
The Politics of Race in Panama: Afro-Hispanic and West Indian Literary Discourses of Contention, by Sonja Stephenson Watson—Paul Joseph López Oro

Discussion 
Chasing Our Ghosts: Mas’, Identity, and Isolation—Kathryn Martins
Making Poems: JCDC Literary Awards Ceremony Speech—Mervyn Morris
On Mervyn Morris—Kei Miller, Nadia Ellis, Ann-Margaret Lim, Tanya Shirley
“Nuances that Glamour Would Miss”: Edward Baugh’s Poetic Illuminations of the Ordinary—Michael Bucknor

Poetry
Patrick Sylvain 
Susannah Rodriguez Drissi 



Interview
“Put Your Bucket Down”: A Conversation with Erna Brodber—Petal Samuel


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Kelly Baker Josephs, Editor, sx salon: a small axe literary platform

Associate Professor of English, York College/CUNY