Prospero Caliban Cricket

(The CLR James)-

John Agard
 John Agard

 Born 21 June 1949 in British Guyana

 Afro-Guyanese playwright, poet and

children's writer

 He worked for the Commonwealth

institute and the BBC in London.

 His awards included the 1997 Paul Hamlyn Award for

Poetry ,

 The Cholmondeley Award in 2004 and the Queen's Gold

Medal for Poetry in 2012.
 His poems "Half Caste" and "Checking Out
Me History" have been featured in the AQA
English GCSE anthology since 2002.
Prospero Caliban Cricket
(The CLR James )
Prospero batting
Caliban bowling
and is cricket is cricket in yuh ricketics
but from far it look like politics

Caliban running up
from beyond de boundary
because he come
from beyond de boundary
if you know yuh history
 Prospero standing
bat and pad
thinking Caliban mere lad
from a new-world archipelago
and new to the game

But not taking chances Prospero

invoking de name of W. G. Grace
to preserve him from a bouncer
to the face
Caliban if he want
could invoke duppy jumbie
zemi baccoo douen all kinda ting, but
instead he relying
just pon pace and swing

Caliban arcing de ball like an unpredictable

whip.
Prospero foot like it chain to de ground.
Before he could mek a move
de ball gone thru to de slip,
and de way de crowd rocking
you would think dey crossing de atlantic

Is cricket is cricket in yuh ricketics

but from far it look like politics.
Prospero remembering
how Caliban used to call him master.
Now Caliban agitating de ball faster
and de crowd shouting POWER

Caliban remembering
how Prospero used to call him knave and serf.
Now Caliban striding de cricket turf
like he breathing a nation,
and de ball swinging it own way
like it hear bout self-determination
Is cricket is cricket in yuh ricketics but from far it
look like politics.

Prospero wishing
Shakespeare was the umpire,
Caliban see a red ball
and he see fire
rising with glorious uncertainty.
Prospero front pad forward with diplomacy.
 Is cricket is cricket in yuh ricketics but from far
it look like politics.

Prospero invoking
de god of snow,

wishing a shower of flakes

would stop all play,
but de sky so bright with carib glow
you can't even appeal for light
much less ask for snow.

Is cricket is cricket in yuh ricketics but

from far it look like politics.
 Themes

• Anti - Imperialism
• Decolonization
• Oppression
• Slavery
 Bread -

Edward Kamau Brathwaite

 Edward Kamau Brathwaite
(1930-2020)

 Brathwaite was a highly influential poet,

scholar and cultural theorist from Barbados.

 He is recognized as one of the most

significant voices in Caribbean literature and
played a crucial role in shaping the
development of postcolonial studies.

 His works often explored the themes of

history, identity and African diaspora
experience in the Caribbean.

 He experimented with form and language,

seeking to create a distinctive Caribbean
voice in literature.
• One of his most notable works is "The Arrivants: A New World Trilogy," a
collection of three poetry volumes: "Rights of Passage" (1967), "Islands"
(1969), and "Masks" (1968).

• This trilogy explores the history of the Caribbean through the voices of
various characters and addresses issues such as slavery, colonialism, and
the search for identity.

• Edward Kamau Brathwaite's immense contributions to literature and his

exploration of Caribbean identity have had a lasting impact on the field of
postcolonial studies.

• His work continues to be celebrated for its poetic innovation, cultural

insight, and profound engagement with the African diaspora experience
in the Caribbean.
Bread
Slowly the white dream wrestle(s) to life

hands shaping the salt and the foreign cornfields

the cold flesh kneaded by fingers
is ready for the charcoal for the black wife

of heat the years of green sleeping in the volcano.

the dream becomes tougher. settling into its shape
like a bullfrog. suns rise and electrons
touch it. walls melt into brown. moving to crisp and
crackle
breathing edge of the knife of the oven.
noise of the shop. noise of the farmer. market.
on this slab of lord. on this table w/ its oil-skin
cloth
on this altar of the bone. this sacrifice

of isaac. warm dead. warm merchandise. more than

worn merchandise
life
itself. the dream of the soil itself
flesh of the god you break. peace to your lips. strife

of the multitudes who howl all day for its saviour

who need its crumbs as fish. flickering through
their green element
need a wide glassy wisdom
to keep their groans alive
and this loaf here. life
now halted. more and more water add-
itive. the dream less clear. the soil more distant
its prayer of table. bless of lips. more hard to
reach w/ penn-

ies. the knife

that should have cut it. the hands that
should have
broken open its victory
of crusts at your throat. balaam
watching w/ red leak
-ing eyes. the rats
finding only this young empty husk
sharp-
ening their ratchets. your wife
going out on the streets. searching searching

her feet tapping. the lights of the motor-

cars watching watching round-
ing the shape of her girdle. her back naked

rolled into night into night w/out morning

rolled into dead into dead w/out vision
rolled into life into life w/out dream
 Themes

 Disintegration, Racism, Self-

Reformation, Sexuality .
■ Effects of colonization and
De-colonization.
■ Identity loss and uncertainty.
■ Hope v /s Hopelessness