Alternative Anthem: Selected Poems

Alternative Anthem: Selected Poems

John Agard has been broadening the canvas of British poetry for the past 30 years with his mischievous, satirical fables which overturn all our expectations. “Alternative Anthem” is a live album of poems from books published over three decades, including “John Agard Live!”, a DVD of filmed highlights from recent performances made by filmmaker Pamela Robertson-Pearce. It includes poetry from “We Brits” in which the Guyanese-born word magician gives an outsider-insider view of British life in poems which both challenge and cherish our peculiar culture and hallowed institutions; “Weblines” that contains three powerful Caribbean myths of transformation: the steeldrum, the limbo dancer, and Anansi, the spider trickster god; and, “From the Devil’s Pulpit” that is a Devil’s eye view of the world, sweeping from Genesis across time; and, other collections including “Mangoes and Bullets” and “Lovelines for a Goat-Born Lady”, as well his children’s books, featuring some of Agard’s best-known poems – “Listen Mr Oxford don”, “Palm Tree King”, “Half-Caste”, and “English Girl Eats Her First Mango”.John Agard’s latest collection, “Clever Backbone”, is published by Bloodaxe at the same time as “Alternative Anthem”.

DCF

821.914

John Agard, Pamela Robertson-Pearce – Bloodaxe Books Ltd