Giant

by Richard Georges

Giant is a manifestation, a creation story born of the ocean. Words turn over and under, shipwrecked then safe-shored. A blend of ghosts and myths meld and coalesce into being, as headstrong as the mountains, as wavering as the sea.

Genres: Poetry

61 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 22, 2018

About the author

Richard Georges is a writer of essays, fiction, and three collections of poetry. His most recent book, Epiphaneia (2019), won the 2020 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, and his first book, Make Us All Islands (2017), was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. His second book, Giant (2018), was highly commended by the Forward Prizes and longlisted for the OCM Bocas Prize. He is a recipient of a Fellowship from the Stellenbosch Institute of Advanced Study and has been listed or nominated for several other prizes, including the Hollick Arvon Caribbean Writers Prize, the Wasafiri New Writing Prize, and a Pushcart Prize. In addition to writing, Richard works in higher education and lives in the British Virgin Islands.

Reviews

[Mike]

I'm still sort of mulling this book over, a few days later. I find that I'm continuing to think about the resonances in the poems, and in particular with Shelley's "Ozymandias," which is explicitly referenced in the epigraph to the second section. There is, I think, an attempt to reckon with the aftermath of empire here. Or rather, not an attempt, but a demand that we all reckon with what "after" means in the context of empire and colonialism. Yet it's not merely the sense of decay that we're left with, as with Shelley's statue; rather, many of the poems highlight the vibrancy of the land and of nature. I think I'm going to have to give this book a second and maybe even a third read, because I find that I can't stop thinking about it.

[Apphia Barton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richard George’s intimate observance of nature and island life is unrelenting. Georges gives homage to the small things and to the big; the overlooked and to the aspects of life that are difficult to unsee. His appreciation of our islands is unmistakable and infectious. In Richard Georges’s poetry collection GIANT, flora, fauna, human beings and, of course, giants, take center stage.

At the end of reading the first part of GIANT I see that I am giant. At the end of part II I see that the world is just as bitter as it is sweet, and part III, I am human.

Beautifully written. This collection of poems filled my lungs and picked at the gossamer gathering over my eyes.

[Shivanee Ramlochan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've written about Giant for Paper Based Bookshop:

https://paperbased.org/2018/08/18/gia...

[Merryana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Georges sings the universe with rich, ancirt understanding, storytelling and imagery and anti colonial anger. A beautiful read.

[Julia]

A bit difficult to get into. Some gorgeous lines.