Rhythms From the Life Of A Woman, by Elean Thomas, is an important event worthy of note tor socialists. For if the interest in pochy in Britain is marginal, then perhaps this is because a poetic expression that is popular and recognisable to the majority has never been produced Yet the writings that appeared during the British miner:' strike indicate the presence of material bom out ofthe experience of struggle though this is not still recognised as 'real poetry'
Ken Worpole, writing in Now Left Review, in reterence to the poetry of Tony Harrison, notes that, the discourses of science and other lechnical languages, the discourses of state bureaucracies, have almost inflicted upon many people, a felt sense of inadequacy that drives them towards silence'. Silence certainly does not inhabit the poctry of Elean Thoinas and Merle Collins, however, who are both very much in the tradition of African performance poetiy I hate the system Which sucks our blood I will one day with my people Overthrow that system 1 am a Black, African, Caribbean Communist Woman Elean Thomas
Name
Elcan wasborn in Jamaica where sheis a writer and political activist. This collec tion of her work is a combination of poctry and short stories set in Jamaica, southern Africa, Cuba and Nicaragua. Merle Collins, as a Grenadian, suffered the trauma of the American invasion, and expresses a close yet defiant understanding of the colonial mentality. You use their words lo call your sister your brother terrorist locunt so well the lessons of your conquerors that now you, 1o0 feel certain you are too ignorant to determine your destiny So you welcome their invasions echoing their words you cail their rape deliverance Merle worked as a teacher and later as a research officer on Latin American affairs. She is presently a member of African Dawn, in London, a group whose work incorporates use of the traditiona! art forms of poetry, music and mime Benjamin Zephaniah and Linton Kwasi
Johnson are more familiar to us, but the
work of these two Black women deserves to become just as well known. These two books, which are highly recommended, are from Karia Press. This press, based in SUBSCRIBE! Annual Subscription rate: (10 issues) • £8.50 for inland subscriptions • £17.00 for inland multi-reader subscriptions • £18.00 for overseas airmail subscriptions, (U.S. $25.00) Address Post Code Make cheques payable to International
the Black community in Hackney, has been established to publish works of history, poetry and linguistics, and novels to give expression to afro- caribbean culture and struggles. Read these works, but also order them for public libraries and book shops as Karia Press, without the backing of the money that the Maxwell's and Murdoch's of this world possess, will find it difficult to get the support that they so richly descrve. Because The Dawn Breaks, Merle Collins and Word Rythms From The Life OfA Womanby Elean Thomas published by Karia Press, BCM Karia, London WCIN 3XX.
YORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE , the concrete sara o at icon ai "The social development of our time is a continuous, accelerated march towards collectivization, and for this reason the necessity for
mural printing, the character of which is essentially collective,
becomes ever more urgent."
DIEGO RIVERA, muralist and revolutionary 1886-1961