BY JULIE CARRINGTON | MAR 21, 2023 |
Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley expressing her deep appreciation to Poet Laureate Esther Phillips, who presented her with a copy of the poem A Tribute to the Prime Minister, The Honourable Mia Amor Mottley. (B.Hinds/BGIS)
Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley was so moved by the deep philosophical writings by Poet Laureate Esther Phillips that she publicly invited her to accompany her to the United Kingdom (UK) to deliver a lecture put on by Oxfam later in the year.
Addressing the audience on hand for “An Evening with Poet Laureate” Esther Phillips at Ilaro Court, last Friday, Ms. Mottley praised the poet, saying “we are extremely pleased to have you share your feelings, memories and perspectives, and above all else, the wisdom this country needs to hear”.
She stated: “I tend to use very simple language now because I understand that seeing people, hearing people and feeling people, must become a daily habit…. What you shared with us today reinforces in me why the message of encouraging not just Barbadians, but all across this world to see each other, feel each other and hear each other.”
Ms. Mottley continued: “I want to salute you and I want to publicly invite you. Oxfam has been running me down to do a lecture in the United Kingdom and I probably will accept it later this year. I don’t like to do a lot of lectures now but only when I have something to say and there’s a lecture that I want to give and I found the perfect opening in the poems that you have just read with us tonight.”
The Prime Minister told Ms. Phillips that she hopes she accepts her invitation to travel with her when the dates are finalised.
Ms. Phillips’ poetry readings were divided in two categories: Love and a Selection of Poems from the Plantation Collections of Poems.
Under the theme of Love, she read Seashells, Yesterday, Memory, and Measure. In the Plantation Collection, the poems depicted the horrors of transatlantic slavery and the need for justice.
In that category, the audience paid rapt attention as she read: Drax Hall; The Price of Milk; My Ancestors Gifted Me Their Silence – When Silence is Not; Hard Love; Wanderer; Brother; He Called for Momma – In Memory of George Floyd.
One of the highlights of the evening was a poem written in 2018 entitled A Tribute to The Hon. Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley.
Ms. Phillips was touched by the gesture and assured that she aspires daily to live up to the words in her poems.
Signed copies of the Poet Laureate’s books were presented to Ms. Mottley and the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office with responsibility for Culture, Senator Dr. Shantal Munro-Knight. The event is the first in a series of poetry reading limes organised by the Division of Culture, Prime Minister’s Office.
