Gully

by Roger Bonair-Agard

Poetry. African American Studies. Roger Bonair-Agard's new book, GULLY, journeys from the subverted sport of English gentlemen to the place where a black man might be swallowed up in the throat of trouble. These poems show us GULLY's trickster position, the source of song, the lurking place on the pitch that requires quick hands. GULLY is metaphor for the subject position of these first-person lyrics filed with a street's athlete's dynamism and energy. GULLY is the site of risk and swagger that swings from cricket bats to the diamond crusted smile of Lil' Wayne.

Genres: Poetry

112 pages, Paperback

First published September 28, 2010

Reviews

[Marthine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting premise -- using the term "gully" to explore 2 elements of his life -- his childhood in Caribbean, playing cricket, starting to understand the world, where "gully" is a term particular to the sport -- and a briefer, more dynamic section on life as a black immigrant in NYC, in which he uses the term "gully" to think about being down and dirty in the ditch of life. The cricket poems can seem overly nostalgic and puzzlingly high-flown when they are literally just about playing cricket. The ones in which he thinks about family or his youth or his culture through the medium of cricket have more in them to grip the reader. The poems in the last section sing so much harder and faster, seem much more oral and less restrained. The first half seems to owe someone, and they are told with dignity. The latter poems are scrabbling and their confessions seem hard, nt jsu tthe childish guilts of the first poems.

Very odd little collection. Glad I read them!