I Have Crossed an Ocean

Born in Guyana, Grace Nichols has lived in Britain since 1977. Her first collection, I is a Long Memoried Woman (1983) won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize. Most of that book is included in her later retrospective, I Have Crossed an Ocean: Selected Poems (2010). Four subsequent poetry collections were published by Virago: The Fat Black Woman’s Poems (1984), Lazy Thoughts of a Lazy Woman (1989), Sunris (1996), winner of the Guyana Prize, and Startling the Flying Fish (2006), poems which tell the story of the Caribbean. She has published four books with Bloodaxe, Picasso, I Want My Face Back (2009), I Have Crossed an Ocean: Selected Poems (2010), The Insomnia Poems (2017), and Passport to Here and There (2020), a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation. She has also published several poetry books for younger readers, including Come on into My Tropical Garden (1988), Give Yourself a Hug (1994), Everybody Got a Gift (2005) and Cosmic Disco (2013). She lives in Sussex with the poet John Agard and their family. She was made a Vice-President of the Royal Society of Literature in 2020.

Not only rich music, an easy lyricism, but also grit, and earthy honesty, a willingness to be vulnerable and clean.

• from I Is a Long-Memoried Woman (1983)13 from One Continent to Another14 Days That Fell15 Waterpot16 Each Time They Came17 Taint18 Sacred Flame19 Without Song20 Ala22 Sugar Cane26 Like a Flame27 Up My Spine28 I Coming Back29 Night Is Her Robe30 Skin-Teeth31 Love Act32 In My Name34 Yemanji35 Like Anansi36 Of Golden Gods37 I Will Enter39 This Kingdom41 Wind a Change42 Omen43 Holding My Beads44 Epiloguefrom The Fat Black Woman’s Poems (1984)47 Price We Pay for the Sun48 Those Women49 The candlefly50 Iguana Memory51 Star-apple52 Be a Butterfly53 Back Home Contemplation54 Praise Song for My Mother55 Like a Beacon56 Island Man57 Spring58 Waiting for Thelma’s laughter59 Winter Thoughts56 Two Old Black Men on a Leicester Square Park BenchThe Fat Black Woman’s Cycle63 The Assertion64 The Fat Black Woman’s Motto On Her Bedroom Door65 The Fat Black Woman Goes Shopping66 A Fat Poem67 Tropical Death68 Invitation70 Thoughts Drifting Through the Fat Black Woman’s Head While Having a Full Bubble Bath71 The Fat Black Woman’s Instructions to a Suitor72 Small Questions Asked By the Fat Black Womanfrom Lazy Thoughts of a Lazy Woman (1989)75 Dust76 Grease77 With Apologies To Hamlet78 In Spite of Me80 Wherever I Hang81 My Black Triangle82 Even Tho83 Configurations84 Abra-Cadabra85 Out of Africafrom Sunris (1996)89 Introduction to Sunris92 Sunris110 To the Running of My River111 Timehri Airport to Georgetown112 Blackout113 First Generation Monologue115 Long Man118 My Northern Sister119 Against the Planets120 Black121 White122 Wings124 Icons125 Hurricane Hits Englandfrom Startling the Flying Fish (2006)129 My Children Are Movers131 To My Coral Bones132 I, Cariwoma Watched History133 Other Ships134 In My Sea-House135 Palm-Tree Seductions136 Facing Atlantic137 Startling the Flying Fish138 Is That You Columbus?140 Our Cassandra141 The People Could Fly142 Many an Aztec Eye143 Gold145 Mother of the Mestizo146 You There, Hummingbird147 Old Canecutter at Airport148 Cane Still Dancing149 Hibiscus150 Sly Anansi152 Why Shouldn’t I153 Not the Kind of Tree154 Rain Music155 For the Life of This Planet156 Follow That Painting Back157 Ink of Exile158 The Children of Las Margaritas159 Lip Shore160 Footprints of My ArrivalPoems for Younger Readers163 Sun Is Laughing164 Headmistress Moon165 In the Great Womb-Moon166 Baby-K Rap Rhyme168 Give Yourself a Hug169 Cat Shots170 Cat-Rap171 Sleeping Out172 Me and Mister Polite173 Turner to His Critic174 Come On into My Tropical Garden175 Mama-Wata176 For Forest177 Wha Me Mudder Do178 Granny, Granny Please Comb My Hair179 Don’t Cry Caterpillar180 Ar-a-rat181 Teenage Earthbirds184 Book-heart183 Glossary