Art visual np2

Gardening in the Tropics, you never know what you'll turn up. Quite often, bones. In some places they say when volcanoes erupt, they spew out dense and monumental as stones the skulls of desaparecidos -- the disappeared ones. Mine is only a kitchen garden so I unearth just occasional skeletons. The latest was of a young man from the country who lost his way and crossed the invisible boundary into rival political territory. I buried him again so he can carry on growing. Our cemeteries are thriving too. The newest addition was the drug baron wiped out in territorial competition who had this stunning funeral complete with twenty-one-gun salute and attended by everyone, especially the young girls famed for the vivacity of their dress, their short skirts and even briefer lives. --From Olive Senior's book of poems, Gardening in the Tropics (2005).

I'm a slow reader and am way behind in my reading. But here is a sneak peek at what's at my bedside these days: *   Crick Crack by Merle Hodge and Summer Lightning by Olive Senior. Two Caribbean classics which everybody should read. I recently finished a writing workshop moderated by Hodge, who is a brilliant writer and academic and is also a social activist. The workshop, held under the auspices of the Cropper Foundation, gave unforgettable insight into the thinking and processes of writers like Hodge. I went back to Crick Crack after the workshop, having learnt a lot about writing and checked it out with a fresh perspective. From the start is it is a novel of understated power and I am looking forward to finishing it. The first story of the short-story collection Summer Lightning is its title story. A brilliant piece of writing with a wry, wise but dangerous tone. You have the sense that great literature is unfolding before you, like a chill wind that will not relent. Rea...