http://www.poemhunter.com/martin-carter/biography/
http://www.peepaltreepress.com/author_display.asp?au_id=11
http://caribbean-beat.com/issue-13/martin-carter-poems-man
http://www.stabroeknews.com/2012/features/06/24/martin-carter-and-his-poems/
http://biography.jrank.org/pages/2449/Carter-Martin.html
Martin Carter Tribute
Martin Wylde Carter died at his home at midday 13 Dec
1997, at the age of 70. Carter became involved in politics in the People's
Progressive Party (PPP) in the fifties. After the suspension of the Constitution
and the reversion to direct British rule in 1953 he was detained by the
authorities and remained in detention camp at Atkinson Field (now Timehri) for
threemonths. Some of the poems he wrote there were published as Poems of
Resistance in 1954 and established his Caribbean and international reputation.
Cater stayed with the Jaganite faction of the PPP after the split in 1955 but
later left the party.
From 1954 to 1959 he was a school-teacher. In 1959 he
joined the Booker Group of Companies and remained as Bookers Chief Information
Officer until In 1966 he was invited to join the talks on Guyana's Independence
at Marlborough House. After Independence was achieved he was invited to join
Guyana's delegation to the United Nations. In 1967 he left Bookers to join the
Cabinet and held the portfolio of Minister of Information and Culture until
1970. Between 1967 and 1970 he served on Guyana's delegation annually to the
U.N.
General Assembly in New York. In 1970 he resigned
from the Cabinet and the Government.
In 1975 Martin Carter spent an academic year at Essex
University as Poe in Residence, the longest period he was away from Guyana. In
1977 he was appointed Artist in Residence at the University of Guyana and since
198 he had been Senior Research Fellow at the University. The writing of poetry
continued to preoccupy Martin Cater. In 1964, he published in the New World
magazine his famous group of five poems, Jail Me Quickly. His selected poems
were published in 1989 by Demerara Publishers and again in 1997 by Red Thread
Press. Martin Cater was Guyana's most famous poet. He will be sorely missed by
his many friends and admirers.
They say I am
They say I am a poet write for them:
Sometimes I laugh, sometimes I solemnly nod.
I do not want to look them in the eye
lest they should squeal and scamper far away.
A poet cannot write for those who ask
hardly himself even, except he lies;
Poems are written either for the dying
or the unborn, no matter what we say.
That does not mean his audience lies remote
Inside a womb or some cold bed of agony
It only means that we who want true poems
must all be born again, and die to do so.
Martin Carter
Guyana mourns the loss of its greatest poet By Andrew
Richards
Prominent Guyanese have expressed a sense of loss and
grief over the death of renowned Guyanese poet, Martin Carter. Carter died
around midday yesterday at his home at the age of 70. Close friend and
colleague, Miles Fitzpatrick, who had not yet recovered from the shock
yesterday, said Guyana has lost the "jewel of its literacy heritage." He said
that the country's heritage was not deep and the life of Carter was
irreplaceable. "I am deeply saddened by his death," Fitzpatrick said.
Leader of the Alliance of Guyana, Dr Rupert
Roopnaraine, said Guyana would be a lesser place without Carter. Hedescribed the
poet as a true witness of the country's experiences over the years. "He treated
us with insights into matters that affected our society," Dr Roopnaraine said.
"He opened our eyes to the need for social justice and dignity. He had a passion
for the truth and pursued it in what he wrote and though. He was a wonderful
companion to his colleagues. We will miss his guidance."
Prime Minister, Janet Jagan, said of Carter, "I have
known him for a very, very long time, since he was a young man. All these years
we have been close.
Minority Leader Desmond Hoyte, said Carter was a
distinguished Guyanese who played an important role in the evolution of the
nation in many ways. He extended his condolences to Carter's wife, Phyllis, and
his family in their time of grief. "he was deeply involved in the anti-colonial
struggle of the country leading up to Guyana's independence," Hoyte said.
Hailing Carter as "an outstanding poet" Hoyte said he was fortunate to have had
the distinction of working with him when he (Carter) was minister of
information. "He was a genial person, of good character, and very affable," the
PNC leader said. "He was a close personal friend. His passing will be deeply
felt by all who knew him, particularly by the many that are indebted to
him."
Head of the Department of English at the University
of Guyana, Dr Joyce Jonas, said "Martin Carter was Guyana's finest poet, and one
of the greatest in the Caribbean standing alongside [Derek] Walcott and [Edward
Kamau] Braithwaite." Dr Jonas said the loss of Carter will be deeply felt by
colleagues and students at the university. "Martin was a friend, a mentor, and
aninspiration to many. While we mourn his passing, we are profoundly
grateful--particularly we in Guyana--for his gift to us all, of his life's
work," Dr Jonas said.
Another poet and close friend of Carter's, Ian
McDonald, said that it was difficult to find words at this time to describe the
effect of his death. Likening him to other West Indian greats including C.L.R.
James and V.S. Naipaul, McDonald said, "Words could hardly measure up to
describe Martin. Everyone knew that he was Guyana's greatest poet and is
distinguished throughout the West Indies. I feel as time goes by he will be
recognised throughout the Americas and eventually gain world stature."
Martin had a vision of decency Rory Westmaas looks
back at a lifelong friendship
Martin Carter's lasting gift to the Guyanese people,
according to Rory Westmaas, a long time friend of the late national poet of
Guyana, is "the vision of the decency to which human beings can aspire." It was
an opiniondelivered after careful thought in an invited comment to the Stabroek
News. Carter, who died on Saturday, and Westmaas were friends from their days at
Queen's College. Westmaas said too that Carter would have made an excellent
president as people would have respected his intellectuality, his superior
imagination, and there would have been no back-biting.
As a person, Westmaas described Carter as "generous
to more than a fault," recalling an incident when both of them were unemployed
but smoked a lot, taking two cigarettes from him, one of which he gave away.
And, according to Westmaas, Carter accepted people as they were, though he might
have been said if they failed in the decency test, as he never set standards for
his friends. However, he did set high ones for himself.
A decent person "He was a decent, exciting,
stimulating, compassionate individual. There was nothing crude or objectionable
about him in his dealings with anyone. He was a great person," Westmaas
observed. In their long association, Westmaas said that there were a number of
incidents, which demonstrated the person that Carter was but that he had
difficulty recalling them off the bat just like that.
One of them, he recalled was one in which Carter,
himself and some friends arrived at Carter's home just as an earth tremor
occurred. Caught by surprise, they stood watching the shadows of the trees and
overhead power lines dancing on the walls of Carter's home. Westmaas recalled
that Martin was the first to snap out of the astonishment, quipping "Come on
man, are you going to let an earthquake stop us from having a drink?"
Another incident indicative of the spontaneity of
support readily given, Westmaas recalled, was Carter's reaction to Peter Fry's
resignation from the Community Party of Great Britain following the Soviet
invasion of Hungary. On hearing the news, Westmaas said that Carter wrote to Fry
telling him that he would have done the same thing if he were in his place. He
recalled too Martin refusing to attend a reception to which he had invited
Westmaas to go with him during the World Festival of Youth in Bucharest where
they would have meet a number of the leading writers of the day.Westmaas said
that by Martin's refusal to attend the reception after he (Westmaas) was barred
from entering, the door-man was forced to let them both in.
Such acts of solidarity were not uncharacteristic of
him, Westmaas said, adding that it was a demonstration of such solidarity that
led him to resign from the Civil Service.
The 1953 days Pressed to recall incidents during 1953
when he, Martin and Sidney King (now Eusi Kwayana), were the leading radicals of
the day, Westmaas said that he found it strange that people though it
extraordinary when they were only doing what people elsewhere had done before.
He observed that when the 1953 Commission was suspended and the movement of the
leaders of the PPP were restricted including Martin, Sidney and Rory it was an
imposition they could not accept. As a result, it led to their being arrested
and held in detention at the then Atkinson Field. Of the experience, Westmaas
said that they kept each other's company, with Martin keeping their spirits high
since he was not a man to groan about anything.
On the left of their time in the PPP, Westmaas said
that they were in the Communist oriented section of the party, with the late
Cheddi Jagan in the left wing social democratic section and Forbes Burnham in
the right wing social democratic section. As a result, he said that the PPP
leadership of the day was not prepared to give them too much prominence. For
instance, he said that at the 1953 elections, he was nominated to fight the
elections for a constituency in the North West and Carter to fight the seat in
New Amsterdam against W. O. R. Kendall, contests which they were not expected to
win.
Westmaas said that he was subsequently withdrawn from
the North West contest and he went to campaign with Carter in New Amsterdam
where they had a marvellous time. Of the results at the 1953 elections, Westmaas
said that when he returned from England in 1953, he immediately went around to
Carter's home and they discussed what would have been the likely outcome of the
elections as a result of their assessment of the PPP hierarchy. They then
arrived at the conclusion that the PPP would win between 17-19 seats as against
Jagan who was predicting they would have only won 12 of the 24 seats of the
House of Assembly. Westmaas said that Carter had a good assessment of the men in
the party and could have read them like a book.
Not on Jagan's list of their break from the PPP with
which he and Martin had stayed after Burnham left the party, Westmaas said that
it occurred as a result of the manipulation of the electoral process by Jagan.
He said that they obtained a list, which was being circulated by Jagan ofpersons
he would like elected to the general council and executive party. Of course
himself and Martin were not on the list, since Westmaas said that with Burnham
gone there was no buffer between Jagan and their communist-oriented
group.
Westmaas said that they called a meeting to which
Jagan was invited and at which he refused to withdraw the list, though they
argued that he (Jagan) should not indulge in such a practice. He and Carter
resigned at anappropriate time. He said too that on the question of the
federation, Westmaas said that he and Carter voted with Burnham on the issue. He
explained that the committee which dealt with the matter considered of Ashton
Chase, Forbes Burnham, Carter and himself, adding that Martin felt that
federation was the way to go.
Jagan, he said, would have nothing to do with the
federation because of the lack of Indian support for the idea. Westmaas said
that he found this out as a result of a recent statement by Eusi Kwayana, adding
that he now had to re-read the West on Trial by Jagan with a more critical
eye.
Burnham Of Burnham, Westmaas said that he could not
recollect Carter speaking harshly of him, though he might have criticised him
about some policy or other, but such criticism was always made in Burnham's
presence. About Carter's reaction to the achievement of independence, Westmaas
said that it was an exhilarating time for him, and that his poetry caught the
mood of the people, but he (Carter) was conscious too of the fact that it would
take a long time to bring about a change in the thinking of the people who had
been acculturated to the culture of another country. Of Carter's relations with
children, Westmaas said that generous man though Carter was, his generosity
never over- whelmed his children. But Westmaas said that no description of
Carter would be complete without mention of his wife Phyllis who was always
there to support him and was always there for Martin's friends.
Steeped in European culture but with deep seated
radical impulses
By David de Caires
I met Martin Carter in the early sixties. No longer
the young revolutionary dreaming to change the world Martin was bitterly
cynical. We used to meet quite frequently on Sundays at his mother's house in
Anira Street, Queenstown, where his elder brother Keith also lived. Keith had,
like Martin, been a member of the People's Progressive Party in the fifties. On
those Sundays large quantities of rum were consumed. Yeats was Martin's
favourite poet and he would frequently recite passages from his work, in
particular from Easter 1916, the part near the end that begins "And what if
excess of love bewildered them till they died" as well as excerpts from the
Second Coming. Keith's favourite party piece as the day progressed and the
alcoholic content increased was Pericles funeral oration. Rory Westmaas, another
mate from the fifties, would sometimes be there. Rory delighted in singing a
song from the Spanish Civil War.
Through the day there would be loud declamations
against a variety of institutions and people.
At first I was quite concerned about how the
neighbours would take all ofthis. I later recognised that they had become quite
used to it and had either written Keith and Martin off as incurably eccentric or
were too overawed to do anything. I understood that what was going on was
essentially a cri de coeur against the colonial condition, accentuated I
believe, by their own internal contradictions. Keith and Martin were both
exceptionally intelligent men, steeped in European culture but with deep-seated
radical impulses. Typical of the mixed middle class in some ways, but not in
others, they exemplified some of the contradictions in the West Indian
intelligentsia.
They were both lapsed communists and indeed one of
the first questions they would ask a new acquaintance with left wing
credentials, real or imagined, was "have you thawed out yet?" Keith was the more
radical, Martin the poet and thinker.
When the New World fortnightly magazine was started
in October, 1964 Martin wrote us a letter of welcome, which was published in our
first issue. In it, among other things, he said: "life in a country as
materialistic and philistine as B.G. soon blunts the edge of the mind. The
almost fanatical preoccupation with hollow issues, the gossip-mongering which
passes for conversation, and the inevitable political hysteria, leave little
time for the serious examination of ideas. I know that the psychological squalor
of everyday life is exhausting. I know that the urgent practical problem of
making a living comes first. What I do not know is why only so few revolt,
either by word or by deed against such acute spiritual discomfort."
At the end of 1964 Martin gave us for publications
five poems under the title "Jail me quickly". They were published in our second,
third and fourth issues and created a considerable impression. They were
republished in issue No. 34 on 18th February, 1966. The poem were Black Friday
1962, After one year. What can a man do more, Where are free men and Childhood
of a voice. They have always been among my favourites. New World Fortnightly was
published on a shoestring budget and I regret to say no fee was paid. We were
deeply touched by Martin's generosity and support in allowing us first
publication.
In 1966 we invited Martin Carter and George Lamming
to be the joint editors of the Guyana Independence Issue of New World. In
addition to his work as editor Martin contributed 'A question of self-contempt'
with its wonderful vignettes on Mr Bovell and Mr Singh. I believe this should be
a part of any anthology of Martin's work. It contains the following passage:
"And I look at Bovell's skull and saw a bump. I wondered whether an owner had
turned
homuncule and taken up residence. My own head I
rubbed. He was wondering why. Incapable of explanation, I remained
silent."
George and Martin did an excellent job, but
unfortunately we ended up heavily in debt. We printed too many copies, largely
due to George's enthusiasm on the possibility of overseas sales. Regrettably we
were never paid by our distributors in London, New York and elsewhere and New
World Fortnightly ceased publication shortly thereafter. Martin has been a
director of Guyana Publications Limited, the company that publishes the
newspaper Stabroek News of which I am chairman, since its inception in 1986 the
year after President Forbes Burnham died. For the past ten years Martin, Lloyd
Searwar, Miles Fitzpatrick, Ian McDonald and myself have had dinner once a month
at each other's homes to share our news.
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