Behind Dasheen Leaves

Behind Dasheen Leaves is a collection of poems that is challenged by the resonance of the Caribbean post-colonial voice. It is a challenge that this collection brazenly battles, as it avoids exoticizing the work, while it submerges the reader in cultural representations. The poems are manifestations of religious syncretism, multiculturalism, and feminist ideas. Behind Dasheen Leaves affects the reader by depicting the products of colonialism while evoking human emotions and experiences. The characters in this collection experience loss, and they struggle with the inability to define self in a society of miscegenation and assimilation. The syncretistic nature of the poems and the lives of the speakers within the poems force the reader to define self in respect to religion, culture, and other societal components evident in the work. Behind Dasheen Leaves normalizes the universe (for its characters, readers, and of course for its writer) as it serves as an emotional, linguistic, and vivid retention of what can no longer be described as lost heritage or history.