St Lucia Jazz

10th Anniversary May 4-13th 2001

They're playing jazz in Derek Walcott Square

and among Pigeon Island's ruined forts you sit on grass

to hear Miriam Mabeka or Luther Vandross.

Wooden Leg, the pirate, attacked Spanish ships from here.

Yesterday I went with a man from Martinique

to the capital Castries for a "great lime".

White-suited Taj Mahal played the blues, I'm

a huge fan of his - for me the hit of the week.

First the English then the French tried to buy this island,

but the Spanish gave St. Lucia its name;

now once more the people own their island home

crowned by the Piton peaks, cooled by the trade winds.

Valerie Josephs