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Providential
Longlisted for the 2016 OCM Bocas Prize for Poetry
"The Caribbean policeman is a character both foreign and familiar at the center of this intimate debut poetry collection. Combining Jamaican patois and American English, it tells the story of violence, loss, and recovery in the wake of colonialism."
-- O, the Oprah Magazine
One of LargeUp 's Ten Great Books by Caribbean Authors in 2015
"Jamaican-born Channer draws on the rich cultural heritage of the Caribbean and his own unique experience for this energetic, linguistically inventive first collection of poetry....Channer's lyrics pop and reel in sheer musicality....A dextrous, ambitious collection that delivers enough acoustic acrobatics to keep readers transfixed 'till the starlings sing out.'"
-- Booklist
"Channer...skillfully examines the brutality that permeates Jamaica's history in this moving debut poetry collection....Channer's poems rise to present the reader with a panoramic view of a place 'built on old foundations of violence,' of 'geographies where genocide and massacre/hang like smoke from coal fires.'"
-- Publishers Weekly
"[Channer's] technique and foresight bring the underlying story of the collection, and the history he expounds, into full daylight and the collection succeeds in revealing a life and history as an essay might, but with the beauty of lyric added to narrative in an exercise that is cohesive in its ability to maintain its trajectory. It is a notable accomplishment."
-- New York Journal of Books
"Jamaica's Colin Channer has been mixing patois in his romantic tales since his 1998 debut novel, Waiting In Vain . In 2015, he blessed us with Providential (Akashic), a poetry collection that touches on the full range of Jamaican languages and dreams."
-- LargeUp
"Fear stalks everyone, police and pursued, and Channer’s poems arrest us to that truth in syncopated, shocking fevers."
-- Caribbean Beat Magazine
"[Channer's] strongest offering yet.... Providential perfectly clothes the written word with matching tone and atmosphere. Welcome to the hallowed halls of Fine Poetry!"
-- Kaieteur News (Guyana)
"Channer has written a fine set of poems that, like classical myth, start with the search for the lost father and end with the found son, the poet in the process replacing the lost father with a found self."
-- Russell Banks , author of The Sweet Hereafter
"The voices and irrepressible human dance of the clan pulsing at this book's center leave me breathless and I realize how close the voices are to my own, how much I crave this dance."
-- Patricia Smith , author of Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah
Channer's debut poetry collection achieves an intimate and lyric meditation on family, policing, loss, and violence, but the work is enlivened by humor, tenderness, and the rich possibilities that come from honest reflection. Combined with a capacity to offer physical landscapes with painterly sensitivity and care, a graceful mining of the nuances of Jamaican patwa and American English, and a judicious use of metaphor and similie, Providential is a work of "heartical" insight and vulnerability.
Not since Claude McKay's Constab Ballads of 1912 has a writer attempted to tackle the unlikely literary figure of the Jamaican policeman. Now, over a century later, Channer draws on his own knowledge of Jamaican culture, on his complex relationship with his father (a Jamaican policeman), and frames these poems within the constantly humane principles of Rasta and reggae. The poems within Providential manage to turn the intricate relationships between a man and his father, a man and his mother, and man and his country, and a man and his children into something akin to grace.
"The Caribbean policeman is a character both foreign and familiar at the center of this intimate debut poetry collection. Combining Jamaican patois and American English, it tells the story of violence, loss, and recovery in the wake of colonialism."
-- O, the Oprah Magazine
One of LargeUp 's Ten Great Books by Caribbean Authors in 2015
"Jamaican-born Channer draws on the rich cultural heritage of the Caribbean and his own unique experience for this energetic, linguistically inventive first collection of poetry....Channer's lyrics pop and reel in sheer musicality....A dextrous, ambitious collection that delivers enough acoustic acrobatics to keep readers transfixed 'till the starlings sing out.'"
-- Booklist
"Channer...skillfully examines the brutality that permeates Jamaica's history in this moving debut poetry collection....Channer's poems rise to present the reader with a panoramic view of a place 'built on old foundations of violence,' of 'geographies where genocide and massacre/hang like smoke from coal fires.'"
-- Publishers Weekly
"[Channer's] technique and foresight bring the underlying story of the collection, and the history he expounds, into full daylight and the collection succeeds in revealing a life and history as an essay might, but with the beauty of lyric added to narrative in an exercise that is cohesive in its ability to maintain its trajectory. It is a notable accomplishment."
-- New York Journal of Books
"Jamaica's Colin Channer has been mixing patois in his romantic tales since his 1998 debut novel, Waiting In Vain . In 2015, he blessed us with Providential (Akashic), a poetry collection that touches on the full range of Jamaican languages and dreams."
-- LargeUp
"Fear stalks everyone, police and pursued, and Channer’s poems arrest us to that truth in syncopated, shocking fevers."
-- Caribbean Beat Magazine
"[Channer's] strongest offering yet.... Providential perfectly clothes the written word with matching tone and atmosphere. Welcome to the hallowed halls of Fine Poetry!"
-- Kaieteur News (Guyana)
"Channer has written a fine set of poems that, like classical myth, start with the search for the lost father and end with the found son, the poet in the process replacing the lost father with a found self."
-- Russell Banks , author of The Sweet Hereafter
"The voices and irrepressible human dance of the clan pulsing at this book's center leave me breathless and I realize how close the voices are to my own, how much I crave this dance."
-- Patricia Smith , author of Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah
Channer's debut poetry collection achieves an intimate and lyric meditation on family, policing, loss, and violence, but the work is enlivened by humor, tenderness, and the rich possibilities that come from honest reflection. Combined with a capacity to offer physical landscapes with painterly sensitivity and care, a graceful mining of the nuances of Jamaican patwa and American English, and a judicious use of metaphor and similie, Providential is a work of "heartical" insight and vulnerability.
Not since Claude McKay's Constab Ballads of 1912 has a writer attempted to tackle the unlikely literary figure of the Jamaican policeman. Now, over a century later, Channer draws on his own knowledge of Jamaican culture, on his complex relationship with his father (a Jamaican policeman), and frames these poems within the constantly humane principles of Rasta and reggae. The poems within Providential manage to turn the intricate relationships between a man and his father, a man and his mother, and man and his country, and a man and his children into something akin to grace.
- GenresPoetry
96 pages, Paperback
First published August 10, 2015
133 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 18, 2015
This isn't my normal type of poetry, but it was well-written and there were bits and phrases that were beautifully written and descriptive. I think my favorite poem from the collection was probably "Tentative Definitions" but I must say that the last few lines from "Civil Service" really struck me as well:
"They couldn't trust him
with an envelope. They
issued him a gun."
Those lines alone remind me of everything that is wrong with our society in many ways.
(I received a free advance copy of this book through the Goodreads First Reads giveaway program)
"They couldn't trust him
with an envelope. They
issued him a gun."
Those lines alone remind me of everything that is wrong with our society in many ways.
(I received a free advance copy of this book through the Goodreads First Reads giveaway program)
November 8, 2025
Be prepared for delight as you see the world through the eyes of Colin Channer who is wise beyond his years, tender, funny, and lyrical. I took delight in the poems and came away enlightened and elated. He also is a great story teller.
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May 19, 2016"Born in Jamaica to a pharmacist mother and a policeman father, Colin Channer, an award-winning Caribbean diaspora writer in the US, has published a debut poetry collection exploring some of the often-violent complexities and confusions of colonial modernity. Although Channer’s poetry (like Claude McKay’s Constab Ballads [1912]) is a significant work of what a critic has called “ethnographic modernism,” it is less traditional in its verse forms and confessional lyrics." - Keith Garebian
This book was reviewed in the May/August 2016 issue of World Literature Today magazine. Read the full review by visiting our website:
http://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2...
This book was reviewed in the May/August 2016 issue of World Literature Today magazine. Read the full review by visiting our website:
http://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2...
December 13, 2015
I received a free advance review copy of this book from the publisher through the libraryThing early Reviewers program.
This book is difficult for me. I've read several books set in the Caribbean area,but none that contain so much in the Jamaican vernacular. Because it is poetry, it is a little hard to pick up meanings from context as one is able to do with a prose narrative. But the writing has a definite rhythm and several of the poems read almost like short stories. I keep returning to it and enjoy it more with each visit.
This book is difficult for me. I've read several books set in the Caribbean area,but none that contain so much in the Jamaican vernacular. Because it is poetry, it is a little hard to pick up meanings from context as one is able to do with a prose narrative. But the writing has a definite rhythm and several of the poems read almost like short stories. I keep returning to it and enjoy it more with each visit.
October 1, 2015
As with many collections of literature by the same author, this is up and down. The highs, though, are very high. I can't, however, say that I was moved very often, but I did feel compelled to keep reading. Channer writes about the history of Jamaica through poems about the history of his family, and ends with a bit from his time living in the US. As far as the subject matter goes, post-colonial literature is my cup of tea. I thought this book was very good even though I wouldn't quite call it great.
August 17, 2015
A book of poetry that reads like 2 expertly intertwined stories in one. 1 story is personal & smaller. About the relationships of fathers & sons. The other is historic & larger. About the turbulent nation of Jamaica. Both captivatingly put forth.
July 18, 2016
Beautifully written, very impressive poetry.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews