“What's poetry, if it's worth its salt, / but a phrase men can pass from hand to mouth?”

His technique dazzles, and through the handling of rhythm and image he makes the world his own, and ours - The Sunday Times

Strands of autobiography, a deeply sensuous ecology of place, historical narratives; the inner world of imagination and the often difficult realities of the postcolonial nation are interwoven in McWatt's bold but carefully worked out architecture. Peepal Tree

I believe that in all diverse forms of artistic expression across all countries, there are some sensitivities in common. Esther Phillips

Poetry is a form of embodiment - Christian Campbell

Lord teach wings how/in the stark silence of these evenings/ in the fine chiselled rock spaces/ to fold and nest... - 'After Heartease New England', Velma Pollard

I don't want to be one of those ivory tower writers; I want to affect people's lives.

Not only rich music, an easy lyricism, but also grit, and earthy honesty, a willingness to be vulnerable and clean. - Gwendolyn Brooks

His poems are direct and arresting, playful, full of startling imagery, and are hilarious, passionate and erotic as often as they are political - often managing to be all these things at once - Maura Dooley

An engraver in short, sharp slashes that go deep. Andrew Salkey

...the popular music of Jamaica, the music of the people, is an essentially experiential music... the music reflects the historical experience. - Linton Kwesi Johnson

I would have words as tenacious as mules/ to bear us, sure-footed/ up the mountain of night... from 'Elemental' by Edward Baugh