Poetry Reading of Velma Pollard

An Invitation from Barbara Walker to everyone.

On the occasion of my Mother Eva’s 100^th birthday I thought that presenting some of my Cousin Velma Pollard’s poetry would give a glimpse into the culture of Jamaica, the country that my Mother, who fled Germany at the age of 14 with the help of the Kindertransport, made her home.

Velma is one of the Caribbean’s foremost women writers. Her poetry ranges from family portraits to poems of loss and remembrance. As in all her work, Velma’s work carries a deep sense of our Jamaican history, something that is also an important aspect of my own work. Jamaica is multi-ethnic. The ancestors came from many corners of the world, the majority brought forcibly from Africa to work the plantations that enriched Great Britain.

Velma Pollards’s poems reflect this rich heritage. We hope that this pairing of visual art and poetry will engage visitors with thought provoking, meaningful impulses addressing pressing current global issues providing another avenue of communication and shared values.