Tommy Ricketts remembered for being ‘way beyond his time’
For people familiar with Tommy Ricketts, he was the embodiment of poetry in Jamaica.
Since the late 1980s he championed the spoken word movement as long-standing president of the Poetry Society of Jamaica.
Ricketts died in late February. No details of his death have been announced but his close friend and fellow poet, Tomlin Ellis, told the Jamaica Observer that he was found dead at his St Andrew home.
“He meant a lot to the Jamaica poetry movement because, as president of the Poetry Society of Jamaica, he provided a monthly space where poets can read their work and get genuine criticism. This helped the poets to better develop their craft. He also helped the society to be recognised with the Bronze Musgrave medal for contribution to literature, in 2012,” said Ellis.
When Ricketts and Ellis first met in 1979 at what was then a Poetry In Unity session, Ricketts was a singer/musician with an appreciation for poetry. That appreciation grew as he befriended the organisation’s members.
“At first, he used to sit with his guitar and watch Poets In Unity practise, until he joined us and started arranging our music and created a full Poets In Unity music band. He eventually transferred into president of the Poetry Society of Jamaica, an offspring of Poets In Unity,” Ellis recalled. “He was full of energy, very creative, and his thinking and deliverables were way beyond its time.”
Ricketts was born in Kingston and attended Ardenne High School.
As a singer, he was a regular on the cabaret circuit, recorded several songs including Nah Stop Dance, and entered the 1991 Festival Song Competition.
A trained graphic designer, Ricketts helped design the 2022 book, Miss Lou, The People’s Hero: A Warrior With An Agenda — a collection of pieces by legendary folklorist Louise Bennett-Coverley.
Ellis, who last spoke to Ricketts in January, described him as a dreamer who “would sit for hours talking about his plans and what he was going to do”.
Tommy Ricketts is survived by his wife, three sons, and two daughters.
ELLIS…he was full of energy, very creative.
