Karen Knott Banhan

Beyond the Pages Karen Knott Banhan

In this her second volume of poems, prolific Jamaican poet Karen Knott Banhan, author of Beyond the Pages: A Jamaican Poet Speaks Volume 1, again fuses aspects of Jamaican speech and performative culture.

For more than 20 years, students have been performing her poems in the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission's Speech and Drama Festival of the Performing Arts. Many award-winning performances featured dub poetry pieces. While Volume 1 featured both Jamaican Creole (Patwa, Patois) and Standard English selections, Volume 2 focuses on the Creole-heavy dub genre of poetry.

Dub poetry is a uniquely West Indian performance-based category of poetry that is characterized by its highly rhythmic nature. Dub poems can be performed with or without musical accompaniment - usually in the form of percussion instruments such as djembe drums, tambourines, and maracas (shake-shakes). Even without instruments, dub poetry is written in such a way that the lyrics provide a rhythm of their own.

This volume is an excellent collection of dub poems about Jamaican life. Thoughts on the Poet and Her Work"In a world of modern poetry Karen is quite candid about emotional issues and writes from her soul, capturing daily experiences in her poems." -Dr. Nolma Coley Agard, Academic Director, Institute of Arts & Culture

"Not only does Karen understand the language of the child and teen and experiences of those in varied situations but she portrays a kind of comedic acuity which enriches her writing. Karen has proved herself to be a fine daughter of Jamaica and I am proud to call her my best student." -Mr Andrew Brodber, Director, Arts Development and Training, JCDC

"We tend to think poetry is just the rhythm, sound and pounding on words; it is, as well as the experience we generate from this mixture. The pitch of the poems written by Mrs. Banhan gives us a sense of relationship and encourage us to be better individuals. Thus, these experiences consist of pure Jamaican dialect relish with humor and droplets of foreign vernacular which serves as food for the soul." -Kayla A.