John Lyons

Poet, Artist and Chef

John Lyons, winner of the WindRush Arts Achiever Award and Peterloo Poetry Prize, was born in Trinidad and educated as an artist and art educator at Goldsmiths College and the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne respectively.

John is a brilliant and much sought-after performer of his work. He has published four poetry collections and contributed to numerous anthologies; read on radio, television and in many festivals; was part-time creative writing lecturer at Bolton Institute of Higher Education; became an Arvon tutor; was co-founder and director of Hourglass Studio Gallery, promoting the visual arts and Creative writing in the Community.

John Lyons's book Cook-Up In A Trini Kitchen is published by Peepal Tree Press.

 

 

JUMBIE JAMBOREE

Tonight is jumbie jamboree
in Mucurapo Cemetery
and what you know,
there is rum, souse and coconut bread
and jumbie bawling to wake the dead!
Ah tell you, is true
dem jumbies making spree
drunk in that midnight cemetery,
and jumbie hugging and kissing jumbie
doing rude things in a decent country.
And when the band strike up a leggo,
boy, the music is hot-hot calypso.
just listen how the rhythm flow
as they dance and sing in harmony:
Back to back, belly to belly,
we don’t care a damn
we done dead already;
back to back, belly to belly
in this jumbie jamboree.

– John Lyons, from No Apples in Eden (Smith/Doorstop, 2009)

 

 

Smith/Doorstop titles

Behind the Carnival (book, 1994)

Voices From a Silk-Cotton Tree (book, 2002)

No Apples in Eden: Selected Poems (book, 2009)

 

In The North magazine

Issue 42 (2008) – poems

 

Audio & Video

John Lyons reading 'Jumbie Jamboree' (at the Poetry Business, March 2009)

 

 

Reviews

‘Most of these poems are made from the tough materials and the tough language of folklore and custom.’ – Roy Fisher

‘The poems are rich … they dance out of the shadows, tricksy with dub and argot … There is colour and heat and vitality.’ – Linda France, Poetry Review

 

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Publicity

Complimentary copies of Smith/Doorstop titles are available for publicity or review, and a 40% discount is provided for trade sales. (Contact us using the form here.)

To book a Smith/Doorstop poet for a reading, talk or interview, contact The Poetry Business on marketing@poetrybusiness.co.uk or phone 0114 346 3037. (If the poet has their own agent or representation, we will be able to put you in touch with them.)