GREAT BAY, St. Martin — Ixion & The Soufrière Suite by Shake Keane was launched here by HNP last Friday at the University of St. Martin with readings from the poetry book and a critical review. Greetings were also sent from author NC Marks in St. Vincent and Keane’s son, Roland Ramanan, in London.
“You need this book to understand why Shake Keane is one of the very best writers, musicians, and creative minds to come out of this region,” said guest speaker Fabian Adekunle Badejo.
The literary critic had previously questioned why Keane is not better known in the Caribbean and his native St. Vincent & the Grenadines, both among the public and literary scholars. He noted that while Keane gained musical fame in Europe—playing with the likes of Lord Kitchener and the Joe Harriott Quintet and receiving rave reviews in the mid-20th century—his few published literary works remained largely inaccessible during his lifetime and even more so after his death in 1997 at age 70, whether in Europe, the Caribbean, or the USA.
Badejo noted that renewed interest in the poet followed The Angel Horn, Keane’s authoritative collection published by HNP in 2005. The book was launched at the St. Martin Book Fair that same year, with Keane’s widow, Dr. Margaret Bynoe, as a special guest of the festival.
Ixion & The Soufrière Suite “makes Shake Keane much more accessible than he has been up to now,” said Badejo. MC Rhoda Arrindell reminded guests that the new book is actually an anthology of two slim collections first published in 1952 and 1979, respectively.
Badejo elaborated on what he said may seem like “ancestral” connections between contemporary eco-poetry and Keane’s hurricane and volcanic disaster poems, written between 70 and 45 years ago.
What may have surprised—or even saddened—some in the audience was Badejo’s assertion that the Ixion poem “For R. …” was not a cryptic love poem but rather a “farewell to his beloved St. Vincent”—a farewell that unfolded over several years, culminating in Keane’s painful self-exile in Brooklyn, New York, between 1981 and 1997.
Additionally, Badejo highlighted the book’s Caribbean take on the Greek mythical figure Ixion and the early jazz inflections in Caribbean poetry, as seen in the works of Kamau Brathwaite. He noted that today’s Caribbean people—writers and artists alike—are “heirs to a legacy left for us by people who had guts,” like Shake Keane.
The book launch recitals reached a high point with a “superb song rendition of the poem ‘Mirrors’ from the new book. It was a pure concert-class performance by Clara Reyes,” said Lasana Sekou, HNP’s projects director. Reyes’ performance seemed to hold the audience of just over 30 men, women, and children spellbound. Aishira “Shishi” Cicilia delivered a moving reading from “Storm Season,” while Sekou read from “Soufriere (74) (4).”
Ixion & The Soufrière Suite is available at Arnia’s Bookstore (Zagersgut Rd/Bush Rd, St. Martin), Gaymes Book Centre (Kingstown, St. Vincent, SVG), and online at libroslatinos.com.
