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Daily Musings

The Power of Nature: Judith Falloon-Reid

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Filleting fish with 

a sharp machete, the master

bad as yaas! Fiyah! 

Poet, Filmmaker and Media Personality,  Falloon-Ried is also an adventurer, and is credited as the first Jamaican woman to visit Antarctica and has written, Antarctic Adventures with a Jamaican on Ice, 2020, that chronicles her trip. Here she talks about her new collection:

Jaiku, is a collection of Haikus and photos. In 2022, my husband and I moved to a small town called Puerto Armuelles on the Pacific Coast of Panama. The shift awakened my creativity in a new way. I had always been an amateur photographer and a nature lover, but living steps away from the untamed Pacific Ocean, having a yard filled with fresh fruits and flowers that grow and free from the stresses of America, I started writing haikus to accompany my photos and posting them on social media. The response was overwhelming. For me, this collection is a testament to the power of nature on our mental, spiritual, emotional and physical state.

Mango blooms in heat

A promise of things to come

Summer tun up high. 

While many authors sometimes find it challenging to come up with a title, Falloon-Reid’s focus was clear

Jaiku is a combination of Jamaican and haikus. I have used that hashtag for the past three years on social media to describe my combination of photos and haikus that often include Jamaican language.

It’s been three years in the making although, the idea of creating a book to house the photos and haikus didn’t materialize until early 2024 when friends and social media followers suggested that I create a book.

While the world cries blood

my garden blooms love and peace

man could learn something. 

Responding to the importance of this collection now, Falloon-Reid reflects on the technological impact:

In a world where AI seems to be taking over, it is important that live photography continues to have a space on bookshelves and in people’s consciousness. AI can never replace a photographer’s eye. AI has no emotion, empathy or ability to see beyond the natural. It simply mimics what already exists. I also live to inspire others to see their creative work, whatever it is, as valuable and I hope this collection will inspire photographers and writers to think outside the box.

A single red stone

defies the waves. I shall not

be moved. Be the stone.

While a writer’s process is often an indication of her productivity, Falloon-Reid keeps it simple but her ambitions are not:

I simply write as it comes. I know my main characters and storyline and how it begins then let it surprise me as it unfolds. I follow my characters as they tell me their story.

I aspire to be a famous author. I just want to write everything that is within me until my mind stops giving me words and my inkwell runs dry.

Writers, like the general public, are impacted by the social factors that arise. Here is what Falloon-Reid has to say about living under Covid 19, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the present US President:

I have always been considered a poet who speaks to issues of the day. I continue to write on the black experience, living in Amerikka and social justice in poetry. Jaiku is a little different. It has a mixture of observations, inspirations and social themes that accompany the photos and although most are haikus, there are a few poems as well. For example, the poem No Trees Aloud accompanies an image of machinery deforesting an area and speaks to the problems of gentrification and cutting down forests to build concrete jungles and the impact on nature. I also try to inspire hope in poems such as the one below that accompanies an image of a sprawling tee with massive roots.

With strong roots spreading

your leaves will shake, branches bend

but you will survive.

And like many writers who complete one project then go on to the next, Falloon-Reid might be doing some back-pedaling:

I am working on a relaunch of my novel The Silent Stones as well as filming season two of Mirrors in Paradise, a six-part series I wrote for PBC Jamaica, based on my book Are Mirrors Cleaner in Paradise?

The Silent Stones was first released 10 years ago but my mother passed away shortly after its release. I am updating it and doing a new cover before rereleasing it later this year.

Finally, the quirky thing about Falloon-Reid that you might not know is:

I don’t like structure, capital letters or punctuation. I use a lot of fragments. And, I like to start sentences with “with” and  “and”.

Website: jfalloon-Reid.com

YouTube: youtube.com/@Judithfalloonreid

Facebook: facebook.com/jfalloonreid

Instagram: instagram.com/barefootislandgirlja

Daily Musings

The Power of Poetry: Bridging Gaps in European Voices

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The life of a writer is to share her work and trust that it finds its audience. I’ve just returned from a three-week European tour—unexpected, yet affirming. While I’ve long known my work is taught in Europe, I had not been invited to share it in over a decade. So, when the Serendipity Institute for Black Arts in Leicester, UK, invited me to present my documentary Conversation –Jean Binta Breeze, I felt an immense joy. Jean was the first female dub poet, a dear friend, and a voice I refuse to let fade.

That invitation opened new doors. Casa della Poesia, a thirty year literary organization committed to amplifying diverse voices, invited me to share my work. To my surprise, they informed me that they were translating a selection of my poems and that I had been awarded the Regina Coppola International Literary Prize. I had worked with Casa della Poesia before, years ago, as part of the Bosnia Peace Festival, but I didn’t realize they had planned visits to three schools and a bookstore event to launch my translated collection, La lingua è un tamburo.

People often assume a writer’s life is glamorous—and, at times, it is. I travel, share my work, and connect with audiences in places I never imagined visiting. Yet, writing is also solitary. You create in isolation, unsure if your words reach anyone, let alone touch them. Without awards or royalties to reassure you, doubt can creep in. But these invitations reminded me that my work still carries weight in places I had never even considered.

At a bookstore just outside Naples, I read to an overflowing audience—one of their largest. That night, they sold more books than at any previous launch. Yet, the true highlight wasn’t the accolades or sales; it was the engagement with students. In three different high schools, we had deep discussions—about the Middle Passage, colonialism, gender, and history. In Salerno, a predominantly European, middle-class city, I found young people eager to engage with Caribbean history and black identity. Their depth and insight moved me to tears. Clearly, their teachers had prepared them, translating my poems and guiding discussions. My work had become a permanent feature in Italy, a country with a small black population and even fewer Caribbean voices.

Fifteen or twenty years ago, when I visited Europe, everyone associated Jamaica with Bob Marley. Today, I encounter a new generation, one less familiar with our icons but still eager to learn. My poems—whether about No Woman, No Cry or Emmett Till—remain teaching tools, bridging gaps in knowledge and fostering dialogue. Creative writing, poetry in particular, has the power to break barriers, to create understanding where there was none before.

From Italy, I traveled to Spain. Elisa Senario, who once wrote her dissertation on my work, is now a professor. She and her students have been translating my short stories from Love’s Promise, and last year, we held a Zoom lecture. When she learned I would be in Europe, she invited me to the University of Granada for a symposium. Meeting her students in person reinforced an unexpected lesson: translation is more than words—it is history, context, and culture.

To my fellow Caribbean writers who feel unseen: seek audiences in Europe. This journey reminded me that my work is not only read but also embraced. There is an eager readership willing to engage with the complexities of our histories and experiences. Our stories matter. We must share them—fully, honestly—without assuming they will be ignored. The students and audiences in London, Italy, and Spain have reaffirmed what I had nearly forgotten: my work remains relevant and has currency. I am profoundly grateful for the opportunity to continue sharing it.

Watch:
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Caribbean Literature, poetry, Teaching Youth Poetry

fabian thomas: a 30+ year journey

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JAMROCK

Wi laugh loud

go hard

dweet sweet

ramp rough

lick hot

dance wid screw face

a nation in trauma

acting as if there are

no problems.

fabian m thomas is a writer, poet, artistic director, spoken word performer, Performing Arts Specialist, and a Calabash Writers Workshop Fellow, and the above poem is from his new colletion , the solace of sound. Thomas says, “the title came from a section of words, which I consider the anchoring poem in the collection.”

Often the question is asked how does a poet put  a collection together, and this is thomas’ response to this  volume, which he describes as “A pot pourri, offering varying flavours for the palette of readers: sweet, tart, spicy, and even bitter, as I explore matters related to the heart, the head and the soul.”

Reading the poems in this collection, you will fully appreciate thomas’ poetry voyage, which he says “is the culmination of a 30+ year journey of writing, learning, dreaming, affirming, living, evolving and persevering.”

Fortunate to have had some seasoned mentors, Thomas credits  one such person, who also edited the collection. “It was my editor Prof Mervyn Morris, who suggested that I add spoken word to the description of the collection, because he said I “..write for the voice.” The audience I claim is those who love and are curious about the powerful allure of the spoken and written word.”

Responding to the impact on his writing and his life living under Covid 19, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the present US President,  these very different social realities, Thomas  offers: “I am present to the reality of people, forces and cabals that are determined to set us (black/people of colour) in particular, and the world in general, back, like resetting a clock to a time when we had no rights, value and free will. My response is “We will NOT go quietly into the night, disappear, shrink, but instead stand firm, take space, draw ranks, resist, rebel and overcome (again!). As in life, so in art, di livity muss ketch pon di page an di stage!”

His reponse  is in keeping with how he describes his writing process: “Live. Observe. Listen. Bear witness. Be witnessed. (Re)imagine. Ideate. Give form. Share (or not 😊).” Like many writers, thomas  aspires to “share my work as widely as possible…and meck money fram it too!!”

Active as a presenter, theatre consultant, Thomas  also makes time for his writing and has many plans:

“Having had the blessing of being published (by Independent Voyces Literary Works) I am now fully engaged in marketing and promoting the solace of sound, along with my previous works: Djembe (illustrated children’s book) and New Thought, New Words: a collection of affirmations, gratitude verses, spoken work and a bit of prose). I also plan to complete two books (a memoir and an exploration of my parents’ meeting and sojourn in the UK), and a collection of essays.”

We still are…

We were

kings & queens

before we were

enslaved

We

still are

In 2018, fabian m thomas self-published a collection of writings entitled New Thought, New Words. His first children’s book Djembe was released, February 2022 and Tribal Elements (A Tribe Ting, Volume 1), a chapbook of original writings by members of his performing arts collective Tribe Sankofa was launched in April 2022. He has two pieces in 100+ Voices for Miss Lou: Poetry, Tributes, Interviews, Essays (UWI Press, 2021).

Contact info:

i.am.fabianmthomas_writer_poet:  https://www.instagram.com/i.am.fabianmthomas_writer_poet?igsh=Z2NhOTZnbGV4a3Bt

coaching4creativeswithfmt: https://www.instagram.com/coaching4creativeswithfmt?igsh=MWg5M25lc201NW1kYg==