My love, Miss Lou

"Wat a joyful news, Miss Mattie,

I feel like me heart gwine burs

Jamaica people colonizin 

Englan in Reverse."

Colonization in Reverse- Louise Bennett

I share my birthday, 7th September, with poet Miss Lou who was instrumental in the rise of literature written in the Jamaican language.  Jamaican isn't merely an accent, it is a language, often unacknowledged, reflecting the melange of cultures, nuances of experiences, broken and reconfigured histories which have found their refuge on our sun-emblazoned, wave-lapped island.  The Jamaican language is the shored fragments of people and places brought together in a vibrant celebration. 

When she moved to the UK and chose to describe British experiences through Caribbean lens, Miss Lou re-appropriated the post-colonial capital, mapping her island metaphors and idioms onto London life; linguistically performing an act of reverse colonisation.

If you don't know Louise Bennett, please get to know.  If you do know, I'd urge you to keep reading.  RIEP twinny.