The Perseverance

In a time when the entire issue of identity has been superficially exploited by second-rate poets, Antrobus in these poems dives into the roiling waters of deeply complex identity. But he does more than psychologically negotiate the movement between being Jamaican and British, and the meanings of being deaf. Out of his struggles surfaces a lyrical intelligence of great depth and breadth, a soulful musicality matched by few poets today. These poems are rooted in his relationship with his father, and at the same time sound archetypal meanings attached to family and father. With this book he assumes an importance in Caribbean poetry that may assure him a seat at the welcome table with Brathwaite and Walcott. He isn't their equal yet because he is still early in his career - but this is vividly rich poetry addressed to heart and head as well as to larger cultural and political concerns. This is one of the most important poetry collections of recent years and deserves repeated sensitive reading.

I bought this after hearing a superb and thoughtful interview with this poet on a Canadian writers podcast - I went to two bookstores in Boston looking for it, and finally ordered through this portal. Such a worthwhile read, I have recommended it to others.

Spectacular writing. "Dear Hearing World" is a classic.

In The Perseverance, Raymond Antrobus's poems explore the many ways to be caught between worlds. The d/Deaf & hearing, white & Black, Jamaican & British are all spaces the narrator(s) navigate, pointing out the unnecessary barriers between them as well as the ties that connect them. His poems question the forces of identity, the push and pull of the inner self and outer culture and which has the greater impact.Poetry as a genre is especially aware of sound from the consonance of alliteration to the breath after a line gap. Antrobus ruminates on the ideas of sound like the noise of a city or ideas or the "holy sounds" of a church or God. The d/Deaf may experience these things differently, but the danger is to assume they can't experience them at all.I especially enjoyed many of the stylistic innovations Antrobus uses. One poem is literally a completely blacked out printing of a poem by Ted Hughes who wrote a controversial poem about a d/Deaf school he visited. Ironically, Antrobus won the Ted Hughes Award for his poetry. There's also a poem he calls an "attempted translation" of an interview with another d/Deaf person that highlights how BSL and ASL don't exactly line up grammatically with written language the way spoken language does or can.Some of the poems include illustrations of BSL signs a few of which I still don't know the meaning of because I don't know how to look up what a sign means. Antrobus includes notes about many of his poems, and there's even an interview with him at the end of the book where he says he's been accused of overexplaining his poems. While I almost always enjoy and appreciate an author's notes, I wondered if he feels this way because he has to explain parts of his existence more often than most.Antrobus combines, responds to, and transforms bits of history, works by other poets, and his own experiences to create create a collection that offers fresh surprises and insights from one page to the next.

"Nowadays, instead of violence, / I write until everything goes / quiet. No one can tell me / anything about this radiance."💫Raymond The Antrobus Perseverance is a collection of poems that vibrate and reverberate through the pages and into the palms. The language of the body weaves through the language of grief, of loss, of identity and out pours a torrent of colors the likes which those who "benefit from audio supremacy" are often unable/unwilling or unlikely to see. This collection's critique of prejudice is as captivating in its words as in its silences.

Just finished Raymond Antrobus’ The Perseverance via @Pigeonhole. It is an amazing anthology that enthralls us with the passion of his written word as much as it teaches. A little thing perhaps but, in his notes, he explains what ‘d/Deaf’ means and the difference. The Big D refers to those who are born deaf who tend to learn sign before spoken language is acquired and consider deafness as part of their identity and culture - not a disability. The little d is someone who has lost their hearing after acquiring spoken language; their relationship with deafness is more medical than cultural. Antrobus brings us, sometimes sweetly, sometimes harshly, into his living world and we are the better for it. Definitely a keeper!

I saw an article in the Guardian about Raymond Antrobus winning the Ted Hughes award for poetry and bought The Perseverance out of curiosity. I'm so glad I did. I'm hard of hearing and I've never identified with something so much in my life. "I'm looking at her face and trying to read it , not a clue what she said but I'll just say yeah and hope".I think this would make a lovely present for "any deaf child whose confidence has gone to a silent grave" and it's good for other people to read too. I left it on a table at work for people to read during their breaks and my supervisor said she read it and was like "that's you."

Beautiful poetry. Funny, political, personal, dark. Really made me think differently about deafness, about being mixed-race, about inclusivity, about overcoming the ways in which society sets out to disable you and perseverance.I saw him read some of these in person and he was incredible, an intelligent and articulate guy whose passion was infectious.

Bought this after seeing Antrobus perform some of the poems at a reading. Sometimes I find that I prefer a poets work either on page or in performance but this poetry is brilliant in either form. Very rich and soft.

I heard The Perseverance on R4 and eventually got around to this purchase.Raymond Antrobus provides not only uniquely written verse, but a an insight into World of living with hearing impairment.

Massively overrated. The first poem promises a great deal, the rest fails to deliver. Perhaps future work will achieve something worthy of this brief initial glimmer.