Windrush Songs

by James Berry

These poems gives voice to the people who came on the first ships from the Caribbean, whose journeys held strange echoes of earlier sea voyages which had brought ancestors from Africa to the slave plantations. James Berry - from Jamaica - was one of these emigrants, settling in Britain in 1948. This late collection by Berry explores the different reasons he and his fellow travellers had for leaving the Caribbean when they rushed to get on the boat. This publication was linked with events marking the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery. The poems also look back on slavery and individual experiences of hardship and trying to make a ‘Mi one milkin cow just die! / Gone, gone – and leave me / Like hurricane disaster!’ Windrush Songs ranges from from lyrical pictures of Caribbean country life to poems in the voices of travellers with desires, fears, anxieties, hopes and ambitions. James Berry came to Britain on the next ship after the Windrush and shared many of the experiences that prompted this migration in search of change and a better life. Many of the poems from Windrush were included in James Berry's A Story I Am New & Selected Poems, but renewed interest in Windrush Songs has prompted its reissue.

Genres: Poetry, School

96 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2007

About the author

James Berry, OBE, Hon FRSL (1924-2017) was a black Jamaican poet and writer who settled in England in the 1940s. His poetry is notable for using a mixture of standard English and Jamaican Patois.

Reviews

[Sophie Breese · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some absolutely stunning poems and as a collection it tells a powerful story of leaving and belonging and not belonging.

[Matt Hunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

English schooling, at least 15 years ago when I was at school, left me with the impression that the empire and colonialism was only ever wonderful. This was wonderfully educational and rather fascinating. also, very well written and a pleasure to read.

[Jack Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exploring home, adapting to change, false expectations, despair, love, celebration, travel, culture, African heritage etc. A first-hand Caribbean insight into the lives and language of the Windrush experience.