There is an element of danger in this poem, as the couple are ‘dancing at de edge of de sea’; giving the reader the impression of being too close to something and the woman ‘will limbo into de sea.’ According to the Bible, ‘limbo’ is a place on the edge of hell, giving Nichols’ poem a sinister slant on tourism and the endurance of the ‘native entertainers.’ When we hear ‘limbo’, we presume it is in reference to the famous dance performed in the Caribbean, but on further research, this dance originates from the ships that were used to transport slaves. The people on these ships had so little space that they were forced to ‘limbo’ into small spaces to create room for more slaves.
When looking closely at the fifth stanza, words used, such as ‘beating’ and ‘muscle’ could also be an indication of the sub current relating to the history of slavery in the Caribbean and the power and force which was used to repress black people. Nichols has used the words ‘drown’ and ‘back-backing’, which creates an image of people, possibly slaves, back to back on a slave ship. Nichols also uses ‘drown’ and ‘arcing’ giving even more of a feeling of the sea and ships, which would coordinate with her use of onomatopoeia in the third and fourth stanzas as the rhythm and wording sounds like waves washing upon a shore. This creates an antithesis with the ‘entertainers’ and their ‘smiling conspiracy’.
The Caribbean is also famous for its percussion based music, and when looking at the fifth stanza we can almost hear ‘wasted rum,’ another famous export of the Caribbean, and the woman ‘exposing she brown leg,’ hints at the exploitation of the island and its inhabitants. The ‘waist drum’ was banged in triumph when slaves were freed but it is also how slaves would communicate with each other. According to Thomas Arthur a tribe called the Maroons escaped the English invasion and fled to the safety of the Jamaican mountains, where their drum beat could be heard by slaves below, giving the prisoners hope if they escaped. The repeated use of ‘red’ possibly hints at the blood shed in order to maintain control and repress the people enslaved, and ‘red band’ could be interpreted as ‘red bandage’. The description of the woman ‘exposing she brown leg’ could be related to the thin loin cloths that slaves were given to cover their genitals, hence the ‘frilly red’, and the woman; ‘she a vision’, the use of ‘vision’ is ambiguous as it can mean she looked beautiful, or she had foresight into her islands potential, which would support why she will do ‘Anything fuh de sake of de tourist industry.’
The poem is written in colloquial language giving it a feel of an honest account of events, rather than someone reading a post card making it easier to relate to the events it is describing, but when looking at Nichols’ sub currents it is with sadness that the people of these beautiful islands are economically dependant on the tourist industry An industry that does not want to remember the true history of the islands and the suffering of many generations due to prejudice and ignorance. This poem poses the question if, apart from the law, has peoples perception changed or are we all ‘staging a dance-prance?’
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Bibliography
Nichols, G. Lazy Thoughts of a Lazy Woman (1989) Virago Press. London
http://www.proseandphotos.com/jamaica.htm
