Readings by David Allen, Margaret Watts, Loraine Barnaby, Jeanne O'Day, Kamla Best, Angie Cruz, and Malachi Smith (1996)

David Allen of Jamaica, winner of an Avery and Jule Hopwood Award in Creative Writing, reads the prologue and a short passage from his novel All Fruits Ripe. Trinidadian poet Margaret Watts of the University of the West Indies in Trinidad reads her poetry: "Dwennimmen: Ram's Horns," which is based on the adinkra symbol of an Ashanti proverb, "Hibiscusandpigeonpeas" [Hibiscus and Pigeon Peas], "For Cecil Herbert," and "A House Called Hope: Discovery, Quinam Bay, Rise to Write New Songs." Dr. Loraine Barnaby of the University of the West Indies at Mona, Jamaica, a psychiatrist, dancer, potter, and writer of children's stories, performs an excerpt from her play "Choices." In it, Alexis, a survivor of childhood incest, is drawn toward women for friendship rather than men. When she meets a lesbian named Alexandria, they become close, though her mother urges her to seek a husband. Jeanne O'Day of the University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, reads her poetry: "Cradling Ancestry," "One Time," "Eve and Her Daughters," "Adam's Prayer," and "Eye of the Hurricane." Kamla Best reads her poetry: "On Searching for a Muse," "Bluesn't," "Gento de Lorena," "Encontre [?] de Parisienne," "Rodney's Bloom," "Bad Card," "Wind Fortune," and "God is a Bald Head Man." Angie Cruz, of a first- and second-generation Dominican family living in Washington Heights, New York, reads four unnamed pieces of fiction. Jamaican dub poet Malachi Smith reads his poems "Psalm of Silk" (a song in homage to Peter Tosh) and "Driver." He performs a version of a poem from his CD, Throw Two Punch, with the refrain "Threw a Two Punch." Earl Lovelace and Sandra Paquet conclude the program.