Woman: New & Selected Poems, Carcanet, 2000, pp. 32–33).

‘Filop Plays the Role of Papa Ghede (2010)’ This poem makes reference to the 2010 Tivoli incursion, in which soldiers killed 81 residents of the inner-city community of Tivoli Gardens, Kingston, Jamaica. In Haitian culture Papa Ghede is often depicted with a cigar. He is the god of the crossroads who accompanies the newly dead.

‘When Considering the Long, Long Journey of 28,000 Rubber Ducks’ On 20 January 1992 a shipping container holding 28,000 bath toys was lost overboard in the Atlantic on its journey from China to the USA. These rubber ducks have since been sighted on shores all around the world and have been tracked by scientists to understand global currents.

‘The Blood Cloths’ ‘Bloodclawt’ is a common and potent Jamaican expletive.

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