Appreciation shown in dance, remixes

Mutabaruka put out 'Dis Poem' without words, but in short order, it was added to in movement and music.

"One of the first real recognition of that poem was by Rex Nettleford. Him say is one of the best poem him hear a Caribbean writer do. Him create a dance to the words," Mutabaruka said of the late vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies (UWI) and co-founder of the National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC).

The impact of the words and movement was lasting. "When me go to Little Theatre and see the NDTC do it, it was amazing," Mutabaruka said, adding that the company made it part of their repertoire.

music follows

The music came after, Mutabaruka saying that in about 2000, a company in San Francisco, USA, licensed 'Dis Poem' to do a house music mix. The 14 versions of 'Dis Poem' to music since then have been done by persons from disparate countries - Israel, Germany, South Africa, Thailand (a recent request), the USA, Canada and England. There was even one unauthorised version. "It actually become the most popular poem me ever do without music," Mutabaruka said.

"To hear a poem that never have music and people create dance to it, reggae, Latin, house, techno - it truly amazing."

It was not a level of popularity that he expected. "Me never know poem could take off that way," he said. "The only other poem that me know people gravitate towards so much is (the late Gil Scott Heron's) 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised'."

Mutabaruka has never recited 'Dis Poem' from memory, always reading it from the text. "Me hear man a recite it and mi can't do it," he said. "Every time me try without paper, mi feget certain line." Still, he said "I guess eventually me will learn it, after so much years".

Plus, Mutabaruka said, "Mi feel like when me read it from the paper, it is a poem. Mi have this feeling when you read from the paper, it more a poem than a recital".

'Dis Poem' has been analysed many times over, and Mutabaruka chuckles as he remembers a French woman asking him about a deep meaning to 'dis'. "Me say no, is the Jamaican talk. We leave out the 't' and the 'h' and say 'd'. It nuh have nutten to do with intellectualising," he said. He added that 'Dis Poem' is used in universities, including in Austria and Poland, "to study what them call dub poetry and how poetry in the Caribbean evolve. That is one of the poem them analyse".

Despite many of the specific incidents Mutabaruka mentions in the poem having long faded from the headlines, he has not altered 'Dis Poem' in readings, save for once when he said "dis poem is f...g up your brains" on Def Poetry Jam. "That was the only time me change something. Me did really want to say that at that time," he said. And, of course, it was okay for HBO. Apart from that, Mutabaruka said, "Mi never say it no other way, anywhere in the world".

And, generally, he does not edit his poems anyway. "When mi write poem, mi nuh go over and correct. Mi feel the first lick is the right lick. If mistake in it, then something did wrong with my mind in the first place," he said.

- M.C.