POET Simone “Fruit Tree” Dewar doesn’t see much of a difference between dancehall and poetry.

“I am a spoken word artiste, a lyrical poet — that’s how I look at myself. Dancehall can be poetry; I speak on tracks but I still have a toasting style. I can do it without the tracks but even the way I speak, I have my own unique style of rhythm to it. Dancehall artistes do the same thing, just all the time with music,” Simone Dewar, a legal manager, explained.

“With dancehall, the artistes have to ride the rhythm and their delivery is specific to the type of beat. I just stay on the poetry lane regardless of the rhythm, speaking in a way so you can hear my words…in a rhythmic way,” she added.

Dewar is upbeat ahead of her debut album, a six-track set called Word Of Dub which is co-produced by Push A Yute and Natural High. The album will be released via Kycker at the end of August and features tracks including Lessons, Black and Naked, Online Love, and Leader.

“Poetry found me 10 years ago. I was unhappy with how mundane my life had become, and I reached a point where I would go home and turn off lights and sit in silence and ask myself: ‘Simone, why are you here? What is your purpose?’ I was compelled to write. It was an awakening moment and it came with poetry, and I wanted to write,” she said.

Dewar performed several of her poems at the South Deck Bar and Grill, and followed up with another performance for ‘Art, Wine and Poetry’ at the Sky Gallery on Phoenix Avenue in St Andrew.

She has released four books — Fruits and Truth, two children’s books, plus a novel titled Carry Her Burdens. They are all available on Amazon.

“I am just bringing the fruits with my words, I am bringing the seeds of knowledge,” she shared.