Suckle

by Roger Robinson

"Suckle," Roger Robinson's much-anticipated follow up to "Suitcase," proves once and for all that Roger's unique territory is memory and its capital is Trinidad - somewhere within its borders are the answers to everything, if you just look hard enough. His approach, self-deprecating yet erudite, creates intoxicating poetry flavoured with the attitude and lingo of his Trinidadian homeland. Delving into the past with much more confidence than in his debut, "Suckle" is alive with the terror and beauty of youth, and memorable for the recurring dance crew Emperors: '...I was its only non breaking member./ I did the practical things, the support: / Someone had to carry the linoleum./ Someone had to adjust the equaliser'. Simple things, profound truths.

Genres: Poetry

70 pages, Paperback

First published June 25, 2009

About the author

Roger is a writer and educator who has taught and performed worldwide and is an experienced workshop leader and lecturer on poetry. He was chosen by Decibel as one of 50 writers who have influenced the black-British writing canon. He received commissions from The National Trust, London Open House, BBC, The National Portrait Gallery, V&A, INIVA, MK Gallery and Theatre Royal Stratford East where he also was associate artist. He is an alumni of The Complete Works.

His workshops have been part of a shortlist for the Gulbenkian Prize for Museums and Galleries and were also a part of the Webby Award winning Barbican’s Can I Have A Word. He was shortlisted for The OCM Bocas Poetry Prize, The Oxford Brookes Poetry Prize and highly commended by the Forward Poetry Prize 2013. He has toured extensively with the British Council and is a co-founder of both Spoke Lab and the international writing collective Malika’s Kitchen. He is the lead vocalist and lyricist for King Midas Sound and has also recorded solo albums with Jahtari Records