Cyril Dabydeen
Islands Lovelier than a Vision

Cyril Dabydeen's poems deal with the experience of living within two cultures, a present of the cool landscapes and growing security of Canada, and a past of tropical poverty and disorder experienced in the Corentyne district of Guyana. Yet even as the poems record a growing immersion in the textures of Canadian life, memories of Guyana surface with stubborn persistence, feeding his complex sensibility. What he achieves is a vision of the interpenetration of the two landscapes, a doubleness of seeing which is richly rewarding.

'Dabydeen grew up in Guyana and his ability to speak from both Caribbean and Canadian contexts gives much of his work its power. He's at his best here in his expansive voice - an exciting collection.' Bronwen Wallace, The Ottawa Citizen.

'The poet displays a narrative gift that seems to root his poetry securely in the actual rather than the abstract - the poetry achieves a complexity of tone and attitude' Jeffrey Robinson, Journal of West Indian Literature.

Read a poem from this collection

See reviews for this book

Cyril Dabydeen was born in Guyana in 1945. He migrated to Canada in 1970. He is the author of almost a dozen collections of poetry, two novels and six collections of short stories.