Renewal

Much admired by Nobel laureate Derek Walcott, the poetry of the St Lucian poet Irvin Desir is published here for the first time. Often visionary, these poems contain such images as “fireflies heave for heaven” and “you filled this cluttered room like a handful of clove”. Published in only a few anthologies during his life, this posthumous collection at last brings to our attention a voice too long unknown.Islander viiI shall see you through the cold shorelinewhere the wind carries and slides over the sandwherever we search death haunts useverywhere the distracted petals have goneour words fade, fade like mist over the mountainour words add to the silence like lifting dust.