To Sweeten Bitter Arlene Zide

To Sweeten Bitter Arlene ZideTo Sweeten the Bitter is a collection by British Jamaican poet, Raymond Antrobus. After the death of his father, Raymond returns to Jamaica but restless questions begin to unearth inside him (Who I am now is something I need to remember). Upon returning to the UK Raymond travelled to Bristol, Liverpool, Hastings, Hull and around London to meditate in the places where the pain and grief of history is bigger than his own. "Consider the name of Raymond

The muleteer’s daughter was ultimately more difficult to leave than the city girlfriend

broadcaster and DJ

He writes a poetry column in the Morning Star and runs Smokestack Books

But beyond their capacity to engage and entertain the reader

the medieval anthology of Irish stories and poems

Comprised of poetry

where she faces a past filled with secrets

based loosely on the life of Kate O'Brien

and Elias Khoury

is much more than a pioneering and acute portrayal of the rural Indo-Guyanese world

but unafraid to bring in darker themes and worlds unseen

In personal terms