Mikey Smith

INTERNATIONALLY renowned poet, Linton Kwesi Johnson, remembers his late colleague, Michael Smith, as one of the most interesting and original poetic voices to emerge from the English-speaking Caribbean during the last quarter of the 20th century.

He expressed these sentiments at the just-concluded second Caribbean Conference on Culture at the University of the West Indies Mona Campus, during a presentation on Smith's life and work.

He also remembers, with sadness Smith's untimely premature death, which he implied was politically instigated.

Olivia 'Babsy' Grange.

The artiste was stoned to death in Stony Hill in 1983, on August 17, which coincidentally happens to be the birthday of National Hero, Marcus Garvey.

Last Saturday, the last day of the four-day conference, in a session dubbed, "The Word: Oppression and Resistance", Johnson, widely referred to as LKJ, could not hide his adoration for Smith.

"The late Jamaican poet, Michael Smith, was to my mind one of the most interesting and original poetic voices to emerge from the English-speaking Caribbean during the quarter of the 20th century," was how Johnson, who is based in England, began his presentation.

"He was the quintessential performance poet, with an actor's sense of the dramatic and a musician's acute sense of rhythm ..... in performances from the Caribbean to Europe," LKJ noted.

Linton Kwesi Johnson

Himself a master of the spoken word, LKJ waxed eloquently in his description of the late artiste.

"He was a gifted wordsmith who could deftly negotiate the verbal contours of Jamaican speech. He created memorable poetic discourse that spoke to the conditions of existence for the oppressed and the dispossessed, in their everyday language."

According to LKJ, Smith was essentially a political poet, a people's poet who wrote about the dehumanisation of the poor and their struggle against poverty and injustice.

"He wrote with conviction and performed with passion," LKJ said.

One of the best known exponents of dub poetry, LKJ, whose performance the night before captivated his UWI audience, also highlighted Mikey Smith's political leaning.

"Although he was contemptuous of the main political parties in Jamaica, Mikey was identified with the radical left. He was not averse to engaging people in high places in heated verbal combat.

"He once told his editor, Mervyn Morris, that he had anarchist tendencies and that he was close to Rasta.

For Mikey, writing poetry was, to quote him, "a means of giving hope, building awareness as a part of the whole process of liberation," recalled LKJ.

Johnson charged that on a visit to his homeland he was verbally chastised by the present Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) spokesperson on culture, Olivia 'Babsy' Grange.

This, he said, was because he was responsible for mobilising the international poetry community to send letters and telegrams of protest to the Jamaican government of the day, a JLP administration, as well as the fact that he organised a demonstration outside the Jamaican High Commission in London demanding that Mikey Smith's killers be brought to justice.

"She said that I had been used by the JLP's enemies for political purposes," LKJ told the conference.

He also recalled how the circumstances of Smith's death was shrouded in controversy.

"As far as I understand the facts, Mikey had attended a political meeting in Stony Hill where the ruling JLP Minister of Education was speaking and [he] had heckled her. The following day, he was confronted by three [persons believed to be] party activists, an argument ensued, stones were thrown and Mikey died from a blow to his head," LKJ said.

Grange, however, when asked to comment on Johnson's claims, totally dismissed them and expressed great "surprise at the allegations made by the poet." Noting that she was not familiar with the circumstances surrounding the late poet's death, she said that she "did not know it had political overtones."

"...And from what I can recall I openly expressed regret at his passing and paid tribute to him. So as far as any political link being there," Grange told Splash.

In respect of the alleged clash between herself and Johnson, the JLP deputy leader said, "I don't know what Linton Kwesi Johnson is speaking about", noting that "we never had much to do with each other."

"I'm not aware that I had a problem with him or he had a problem with me. I am surprised to know that reference was made to me in that context because I never ever had a problem with anyone in culture that smacked of politics," she declared.

She added that she was not sure that Johnson would even recognise her if he saw her.

"I do not want to be accused of anything either because someone wants either to make the news or to make an impression to a particular circle of people and I think that Linton should be more specific and certainly he should speak to me," Grange said.

There have also been charges that Smith was set upon by members of the community after news of the sexual assault of a minor surfaced.

No one was ever charged for the stoning death.

A memorial reading for Michael Smith was held in Brixton in which Mutabaruka, Oku Onuora, Kamau Braithwaite and LKJ himself participated.

Born in 1954 to a working-class family, after attending various schools, Mikey Smith in 1980, graduated from the Jamaica School of Drama with a diploma in theatre arts.

In 1978, Michael Smith represented Jamaica at the 11th World Festival of Youth and Students in Cuba. That year, saw the release of his first recording, a single titled, Word, followed by perhaps his most famous piece Mi Cyaan Believe It and Roots.

In 1981, he performed in Barbados during CARIFESTA and was filmed by BBC Television performing Mi Cyaan Believe It for the documentary From Brixton To Barbados.

In 1982, Smith took London by storm with performances at the Campden Centre for "International Book Fair of Radical Blacks and Third World books". And also at Lambeth Town Hall in Brixton for "Creation for Liberation".

While in Britain, together with Oku Onoura, Michael Smith also did a successful poetry tour and recorded the Mi Cyaan Believe It album for Island Records.

Against the background of these and other remarkable achievements, Linton Kwesi Johnson concluded Michael Smith was a serious poet whose work had been taken seriously.

The Caribbean Conference on Culture at the University was held in honour of literary giant, Kamau Braithwaite.

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