Shortlisted for the Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry 2022. An Irish Times Best Poetry Books of 2021. 'Lorna Goodison has come to be recognised as a hugely significant and influential contemporary author both at home and internationally,' Simon Armitage declared, when she was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 2019. 'Through poems rooted in her Caribbean heritage and upbringing she has created a body of enchanting, intelligent and socially aware poetry in the authentic registers of her own tongue.' Her poems have always found voices for the voiceless and shown another side of history. Her new book zones in on two great under-regarded figures to whom Jamaican music owes a substantial debt: Sister Mary Ignatius and Anita 'Margarita' Mahfood. Sister Iggy, as the boys called her, ran the Alpha Boys School for wayward boys. There she mentored many of Jamaica's most gifted musicians, including the brilliant trombonist Don Drummond. Anita 'Margarita' Mahfood (Mahfouz) was a strikingly beautiful dancer of Lebanese descent, who became Don Drummond's lover. The poems in Mother Muse move boldy and range widely; here are praise songs alongside laments; notable women such as Mahalia Jackson share pages with the less well noted - women like Sandra Bland, Windrush victims and two of the last enslaved women to be set free.
About the AuthorLorna Goodison was born and grew up in Jamaica, where she still has a home. She has taught in Canada and in the United States and her poetry and prose are widely anthologised. Carcanet publish Oracabessa (2013) as well as multiple selections of her poetry, including most recently her Collected Poems (2017). She has won numerous awards including the Henry Russel Award for Exceptional Creative Work from the University of Michigan. She was appointed Poet Laureate of Jamaica in 2017.
Reviews'[Gooidson] has created a body of enchanting, intelligent and socially aware poetry in the authentic registers of her own tongue' - Simon Armitage
AwardsShort-listed for The Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry 2022.
Book InformationISBN 9781800171060
Author Lorna GoodisonFormat Paperback
Page Count 96
Imprint Carcanet Press LtdPublisher Carcanet Press Ltd
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 135mm * 8mm