At the end of the poem the poet realsies that she can never lose her mother tongue (see quote above). What makes this poem unique to the other two is that is contains foreign dialect, as well as English pronunciations. This gives the reader the opportunity to experience her dilemma of having “two tongues”
“Unrelated Incidents” Like ‘Search for my Tongue’ this is a poem about language and power.
“Search for my tongue” refers to a foreign language, “Unrelated Incidents” refers to accents and dialects, comparing a Broadband Scottish accent to that of a ‘BBC News reader’, or poshly spoken English.
The poem is written on how it would sound, which emphasises the point that perhaps a southerner has difficulties reading, pronouncing, or understanding the poem.
The poem uses very short lines, and words usually three or four syllables long. This causes the reader to move quickly down the page, reading at the pace of a real news announcement.
“Half-Caste” is about the poet challenging the term “Half-Caste” as he sees it as incorrect. At the beginning he is standing on one leg:
“Excuse me
standing on one leg
I'm half-caste”
He is saying this in a sarcastic tone, as it is a very stupid idea of standing on one leg. “Excuse me” suggests he does not see it as humorous, but he is trying to make a serious point and show people that the term half-caste is incorrect.
Like at the beginning of the poem (see above) he is giving more examples of only using half of himself, which suggests he is not a complete person, only half.
“half of mih ear”
“half of mih eye”
“half-a-hand”
“Unrelated Incidents” is more linked to “Half-Caste” then “Search for my tongue” as he is feeling discriminated, and writes the poem with a hostile and angry tone, where as “Search for my tongue” is a ‘lost’ and ‘lonely’ poem.
Like “Unrelated Incidents”, the poem uses spelling to create the sense of a spoken voice. Here the accent is Afro-Caribbean, but the poem also uses many more recognisable standard words. “Half-Caste” has no punctuation; there isn’t a comma or full stop in the whole poem, which suggests it is written like a speech, or is said quickly like “Unrelated Incidents”
Stuart Myers
