A Light Song of Light
Published on 28. July 2010
Book
Paperback/Softback
80 pages
978-1-84777-103-2 (ISBN)
Description
Kei Miller's work was acclaimed by the distinguished Jamaican writer Olive Senior as 'Some of the most exciting poetry I've read in years... An extraordinary new voice singing with clarity and grace.' A Light Song of Light sings in the rhythms of ritual and folktale, praise songs and anecdotes, blending lyricism with a cool wit, finding the languages in which poetry can sing in dark times.
The book is in two parts: Day Time and Night Time, each exploring the inseparable elements that together make a whole. Behind the daylight world of community lies another, disordered, landscape: stories of ghosts and bandits, a darkness violent and seductive. At the heart of the collection is the Singerman, a member of Jamaica's road gangs in the 1930s, whose job was to sing while the rest of the gang broke stones. He is a presence both mundane and shamanic. Kei Miller's poems celebrate 'our incredible and abundant lives', facing the darkness and making from it a song of the light.
Cover photograph: Detail of balmyard constructed from zinc, Jamaica. Copyright (c) Kei Miller.
The book is in two parts: Day Time and Night Time, each exploring the inseparable elements that together make a whole. Behind the daylight world of community lies another, disordered, landscape: stories of ghosts and bandits, a darkness violent and seductive. At the heart of the collection is the Singerman, a member of Jamaica's road gangs in the 1930s, whose job was to sing while the rest of the gang broke stones. He is a presence both mundane and shamanic. Kei Miller's poems celebrate 'our incredible and abundant lives', facing the darkness and making from it a song of the light.
Cover photograph: Detail of balmyard constructed from zinc, Jamaica. Copyright (c) Kei Miller.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Carcanet Press Ltd
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 134 mm
Thickness: 7 mm
Weight
104 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-84777-103-2 (9781847771032)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Kei Miller was born in Jamaica in 1978 and has written several books across a range of genres. His 2014 collection, The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion, won the Forward Prize for Best Collection while his 2017 Novel, Augustown, won the Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, the Prix Les Afriques, and the Prix Carbet de la Caraibe et du Tout-Monde. He is also an award-winning essayist. In 2010, the Institute of Jamaica awarded him the Silver Musgrave medal for his contributions to Literature and in 2018 he was awarded the Anthony Sabga medal for Arts & Letters. Kei has an MA in Creative Writing from Manchester Metropolitan University and a PhD in English Literature from the University of Glasgow. He has taught at the Universities of Glasgow, Royal Holloway and Exeter. He is the 2019 Ida Beam Distinguished Visiting Professor to the University of Iowa and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Author photo (c) Christine Fourie.
Kei Miller has a page on the Poetry Archive website, where you can listen to recordings of his poetry and access other useful resources. Click here.
Author photo (c) Christine Fourie.
Kei Miller has a page on the Poetry Archive website, where you can listen to recordings of his poetry and access other useful resources. Click here.
Content
Day Time
Twelve Notes for a Light Song of Light
This Zinc Roof
Some Definitions for Song
Until you too have journeyed
Some Definitions for Light (I)
If this short poem stretches
Notice to the Public, Please Observe
Some Definitions for Light (II)
The Longest Song
A Short Biography of the Singerman
Brochure
What Can Be Accommodated
The Singerman's Papa
The Colour of the Singerman's Songs
In Defence of Obeah
Questions for Martin Carter
Call this apocalyptic propaganda if you must
For Cornelius Eady
Thinkin Home
Some Definitions for Light (III)
Night Time
The Lost Prophecy of Alexander Bedward
Abracadabra
Unsung
Prologue
De True Story of Rolling Calf
De True Story of Nathaniel Morgan
De True Story of Coolie Duppy
De True Story of deLaurence
A Praise Song for Sudden Lights
A Creed
A Smaller Song
For the Pilots
A Short History of Beds We Have Slept in Together
The Law Concerning Mermaids
What We Thought Were Signs
On the Ninth Night
The Singerman's Other Job
A Parting Song
A Nine Night Song
Noctiphobia
Some Definitions for Night
Twelve Notes for a Light Song of Light
This Zinc Roof
Some Definitions for Song
Until you too have journeyed
Some Definitions for Light (I)
If this short poem stretches
Notice to the Public, Please Observe
Some Definitions for Light (II)
The Longest Song
A Short Biography of the Singerman
Brochure
What Can Be Accommodated
The Singerman's Papa
The Colour of the Singerman's Songs
In Defence of Obeah
Questions for Martin Carter
Call this apocalyptic propaganda if you must
For Cornelius Eady
Thinkin Home
Some Definitions for Light (III)
Night Time
The Lost Prophecy of Alexander Bedward
Abracadabra
Unsung
Prologue
De True Story of Rolling Calf
De True Story of Nathaniel Morgan
De True Story of Coolie Duppy
De True Story of deLaurence
A Praise Song for Sudden Lights
A Creed
A Smaller Song
For the Pilots
A Short History of Beds We Have Slept in Together
The Law Concerning Mermaids
What We Thought Were Signs
On the Ninth Night
The Singerman's Other Job
A Parting Song
A Nine Night Song
Noctiphobia
Some Definitions for Night