A Map of the Island is an extended poetic meditation upon a boy's youth in Trinidad. In these verses we hear the cadences of the West Indies spoken from the distance of the Canadian prairies.
Nigel Darbasie is an acclaimed Edmonton writer who has been widely published in books, textbook anthologies, and magazines. He is a member of the Stroll of Poets and has performed numerous readings at cultural and arts events. His previous volume of poetry sold almost 1000 copies.
"In its entirety, the collection forms a cultural mosaic taking the reader on a relatively gentle, yet disruptive, post-colonial journey. Separately, each poem stands on its own as an elegantly written snapshot from a single lifetime. The inclusion of actual photos on the back cover complete the autobiographical framework and gives this text a sense of authenticity within a poetic vision that simultaneously threatens and challenges the notion of the authentic at every turn.... A Map of the Island stands alone as a beautifully connected mosaic that also exists separately as individual poems laying claim to the experience of youth - both connected and disconnected by geography, material goods, nation, and colonialist disruption." David Bateman, Canadian Ethnic Studies.
"Darbasie takes his readers on an intimate journey that encompasses the "landmarks of [his] fascination," (44) namely the fault lines where one reality collides with another, and identities converge. At once colloquial and esoteric, autobiographical and political, the poems are guided by two main metaphors: music and carnival, two of the island's richest traditions. The collection's "playful romp / among Old World, New World roots" (57) is framed by the overarching metaphor of the island, both a geographical place and a microcosm of the world." Stephanie Heidenreich, Prairie Fire Review of Books (see full review at www.prairiefire.mb.ca/reviews/darbasie_n.html)
".charming and delightful." Douglas Barbour, The Edmonton Journal
"His poems evoke the life, conflicts and memories of the West Indies, told through a prairie perspective, as he struggles to understand the meaning of home." Prairie Books Now
"Darbasie's poetry is as rhythmic and musical as the Calypso musicians who provided the background sound for his childhood." Naton Leslie, MultiCultural Review
