(2018) [Interview] ‘Writing the Woman’s Voice: On the Verandah with Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze.’ Contemporary Women’s Writing.

Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze was born in 1956 and brought up by her grandparents in rural Jamaica. She studied at the Jamaican school of drama and first visited London in 1985 to take part in the International Book Fair of Radical and Third World Books on the invitation of internationally renown dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson. In the 1970s and ‘80s in London, Breeze became a pioneering poetic voice in the radical black community in a traditionally male dominated dub poetry scene. Often cited as ‘a one-woman festival,’ she has since performed her work all over the world including tours in Europe, the Caribbean, America, South East Asia and Africa. Dub poetry is performed rather than just read and is steeped in musical rhythms. In her poem ‘The Garden Path’ (2000), Breeze lays out her poetic vision: ‘I want to make words music, move beyond language into sound’. She is committed to this manifesto and effortlessly blends Jamaican patois with so-called ‘standard’ English to create innovative new poetic forms and rhythms. She is a truly hybrid artist; as comfortable on the stage delivering spoken word performances as she is singing with a reggae band or giving readings to the literary establishment. Breeze is the author of eight books, including Riddim Ravings and Other Poems (1983), On the Edge of An Island (1997) and Third World Girl: Selected Poems published in 2011 by Bloodaxe Books with a DVD of live readings. Her recordings include ‘Riddim Ravings’ (1987), ‘Tracks’ (1991) and ‘Riding on de Riddim’ (1997). She is an honorary creative writing fellow at the University of Leicester, where she also received an honorary doctorate in January 2017. In 2012, Breeze received an MBE for services to Literature. Breeze’s work has a very strong political dimension and her poetic voice has always called for change and resistance to the oppressive and corrosive forces of ignorance and prejudice. Whether it be her ‘domestic dub,’ which highlights the struggles and lived experiences of everyday women, or her call for the ‘third world’ to confront the ‘first world’ in an attempt to throw off the shackles of neo-colonialism, she is committed to bringing her message of hope and resistance to international audiences. Breeze’s poetry not only straddles the music industry and the literary establishment but also combines reflections on both inner-city life and the natural world. Breeze divides her time between urban London and rural Jamaica and her latest collection, The Verandah Poems (2016), is a celebration of both the simplicities and intricacies of country life in Jamaica; an ode to watching the world go by from her verandah. Indeed, the verandah plays a pivotal role in black communities across the Americas. Traditionally, the verandah or porch is at the center of folk-life and oral culture and a space key to the health of the community. African American author Zora Neale Hurston in Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), whose work celebrates black folklore and culture in 1930s America, writes of the pivotal role the porch plays in the oral traditions and creative lives of the African American community. Similarly to Breeze’s use of Patois, Huston goes to great lengths to capture the African American vernacular in her writing and her ‘speakerly’ text emphasises the centrality of the porch in the all black town of Eatonville as a place where people can sit together, after a hard day of work, and share their stories: When the people sat around on the porch and passed around the pictures of their thoughts for the others to look at and see, it was nice. The fact that the thought pictures were always crayon enlargements of life made it even nicer to listen to. (Hurston, 2000, p.60) Breeze explains that in Jamaica, unlike in England, life is lived outside so people see and notice each other, pass the time of day and exchange tales. From her Jamaican verandah Breeze can observe passers-by and involve herself in the community, but it’s also a safe and private space and people must be invited to enter it. In The Verandah Poems Breeze invites the reader onto her verandah to observe the intricate lives of visitors and passers by, feel the intensity of the tropical afternoon heat, hear the stories exchanged at the end of the day, grapple with the ghosts of the past and meditate on the changes that unfurl before her in modern Jamaica. Acknowledgments The Verandah Poems England Tour was supported by funding from Arts Council England. The Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze interview and reading was hosted at Leeds Beckett University Centre by the Culture and the Arts in partnership with literary curators, programmers and producers Renaissance One (www.renaissanceone.co.uk) on Nov 10, 2016. The interview was transcribed by Danielle Hall. The author would like to thank Melanie Abrahams from Renaissance One and Danielle Hall for their support in the transcription and publication of this interview and Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze for her sharing her wisdom and for her generous answers.