On our radar: ‘Locke and Key’ actress publishes book
experiments? And is he a precursor to the later “dub-poetry?”
I discuss this question in a couple of chapters in the book, so I’ll answer briefly. First, it’s true that Shake did claim that he saw his poetry and jazz as unrelated to one another. I argue that crossover elements from jazz to poetry can be detected in two ways, first by the different ways that he improvised on the page. And, second, through the ways that he exploited the notions of ‘play’ and ‘playing’.
His improvisations involve — call and response poems, the formation of visual poems and the location of individual words, displayed almost like single notes.
The idea of ‘play’ or ‘playing’ takes a variety of forms. There is play as a form of play as a form of teasing, for example exploring the idea of a name change, popular at one time, or the use of nick-names; and there is the play with the folk idiom of St Vincent. Examples of all these forms of play can be found in
You also asked about parallels with Kamau Brathwaite and ‘nation language’. I would say Shake was more interested in ways of bending or breaking language rules to create certain effects that he wanted to achieve. He was less interested in the piety required to establish a new language, albeit a language that comes out of conventional rule breaking. I’d say that Shake was working more within a jazz aesthetic, an apparently more relaxed and casual style but one that has its own depth. It’s true that Kamau is known also for exploring a jazz aesthetic and both were clearly jazz aficionados. While Kamau was an astute listener Shake played two jazz instruments and innovated with jazz music. I dis-order;
Hurricane Summer,
by Asha Bromfield. Wednesday Books, 400 pages see here not better or worse or leader or follower, but qualitative differences.
Would you consider Shake a pioneer of Caribbean literature among his contemporaries? How would you also place the work of his Vincentian friends Danny Williams and Owen Campbell alongside that of Shake in the wider context of the burgeoning Caribbean poetry of the time?
If by pioneer you mean someone who strides out on his own to make a mark in some field then I’d say ‘yes’. I know of no-one else, from the English-speaking Caribbean, who has combined poetry and jazz to reach the level that Shake achieved. Certainly, there are other Caribbean artists who also mastered a number of genres. I’m thinking of Derek Walcott with poetry, drama and his watercolour painting; there is also the late Jacques Coursil the French/ Martinique trumpeter — a jazz/ classical musician and professor of linguistics whose work I discovered recently. Interestingly, though they differed in many ways, Coursil and Shake had certain pioneering characteristics in common. Both surpassed chord-based improvisation, both threw their musical nets wide and both participated in a search for new sounds in music.
The main characteristics that Shake valued as central to Caribbean poetry were ‘joy’ and ‘exuberance’. These are probably not pioneer features of his poetry but both overflow in his work. I would argue that we need them always but, especially in these COVID times, we need them more than ever.
Regarding Danny Williams and Owen Campbell: during the 1940s and 50s they were called ‘the Vincentian trio’ by Henry Swanzy of
BBC Caribbean
Asha Bromfield, who stars as Zadie Wells in the series and is of Jamaican heritage, has published a first novel,
Netflix Locke and Key,
Hurricane Summer.
fame. They were known at this time for voicing and celebrating island specificities in their writing. But more than that they were certainly close friends who supported each other as poets and writers working in the relatively indifferent context of St Vincent. In my view Campbell and Williams remained good, if more conventional poets. Shake’s work changed to respond to the wider influences of music, travel and ultimately to reflect a kind of love/hate relationship with St Vincent.
Voices
To extend that last question, you say that Shake Keane could be fairly described as a minor poet. Where in his poetry do you think he offers still-undiscovered glimpses of making major contributions to the development of West Indian poetry?
In essence much of his work disrupts the clear lines of demarcation between styles and genres that critics often require. Located at the cross-roads between jazz and poetry, Shake’s most significant achievement was ultimately a blurring of the boundaries between these two art forms. The collection
One A Week With Water: Rhymes and Notes
is the most compact example of this process.
I used the term ‘minor’ to describe Shake’s poetry because of his limited output, impact and his style as an artist. For example, his published posthumously in
2005, contains 72 poems and 182 pages. His prize-winning 1979 Casa collection
runs to only 74 pages and only 500 copies were ever published; for ten of his mature years he published no poems. Then there is the issue of reception of his work. He deploys overt as well as underlying humour in much of his work. I
Collected Poems,
Week With Water
Hurricane Summer
One A
It has been described as a “sweeping debut [that] takes readers to the heart of Jamaica, and into the soul of a girl coming to terms with her family, and herself, set against the backdrop of a hurricane”.
tells the story of Tilla, who has spent her entire life trying to make her father love her. But every six months, he leaves their family and returns to his true home: the island of Jamaica.
When Tilla’s mother tells her she’ll be spending the summer on the island, Tilla dreads the idea of seeing him again, but longs to discover what life in Jamaica has always held for him.
In an unexpected turn of events, Tilla is forced to face the suspect that this combination has resulted in critics not taking his work seriously. If critics by-pass the work then it simply falls out of the frame.
Shake was not the sort of person to beat a drum to announce himself as an artist though he was a powerful and gregarious presence when around people. In his approach to jazz and poetry he showed a style that was easy-going yet humble. For example in
1990 he was asked: “What are you contributing to, not only creatively, but to the universe of the Caribbean?” His reply could not be further from the now commonplace style of artistic self-aggrandisement. He answered: “I’m not sure…one has to learn certain technical things and as you get older you have to convince yourself that you have made a contribution.”
1990) (Caribbean Perspective,
Did Shake write enough religious poetry to make him a significant voice in the fairly rare literature of the Caribbean that treats of the theme of Caribbean spirituality and religion?
Probably not. But the two articles about early religious poetry of the Caribbean that he wrote for in 1952 indicate a sense of spirituality and a certain openness to spirituality that I would argue he never lost, despite a life that at times contained considerable turmoil. His early long poem ‘L’oubli’ explores a young man’s testing of faith. His later Volcano Suite are five contemplations on what he calls a ‘Natural Presence’ coordinated with our presence on the planet. There appears to be in some of his writing then an exploration of Nature as a way to God. But these scattered poems
Bim
storm that unravels in her own life as she learns about the dark secrets that lie beyond the veil of paradise — all in the midst of an are not a sufficient body of work to rank alongside committed and profound religious poetry like that of Mervyn Morris, John Figueroa and yourself. But at the same time Shake was committed to an underlying essence of what he called ‘delight’ and ‘joy’ which he found in Caribbean religious poetry from his early explorations and which he identified as central to his (and Caribbean) poetry.
This commitment may have been informed by his early Methodism.
Finally, overall, how would you assess the contributions of Shake Keane to Caribbean arts and literature? Does he need to be rediscovered, both his music and poetry? How do you think this new biography can help?
I hope from what I’ve said above and in the biography that I have made a case for Shake’s work to be rediscovered. At present his work in both genres is perhaps more like an open secret of Caribbean arts. The originality of his jazz/poetry association, the music itself and his essentially celebratory, exuberant poetry remains a delight to be discovered for those who will come across it for the first time. If my biography helps to steer more people in Shake’s direction I will be pleased.
John Robert Lee is a Saint
Lucian writer. Among his latest publications are Pierrot (Peepal Tree, 2020) and Saint Lucian Writers and Writing: an Author Index (Papillote Press, 2019). He will kick off #Caribbeanstrong, the annual Bookends series of interviews by Jacqueline Bishop with writers and artists from the Caribbean, beginning next week. The stellar line-up will include Althea Romeo-mark, Dorothea Smartt, Richard Georges, and Lionel Cruet.
impending hurricane.
is a comingof-age story that deals with colourism, classism, young love, the father-daughter dynamic — and what it means to discover your own voice in the centre of complete destruction.
Hurricane Summer