Martin Carter: The Poems Man

Guyana's great poet Martin Carter has been a political prisoner and a government minister.

Martin Carter never left Guyana. He is one of the few Caribbean artists to endure the decay of a beloved society without seeking exile. He has not received the recognition of Naipaul or Walcott, and his body of work is comparatively small. But the esteem in which he is held makes literary fame irrelevant. For Carter has probed the darkness and confusion of post-colonial Guyana more searchingly than anyone else; despite alienation and even bitterness, he has bequeathed a priceless legacy to his society.


In a foreword to Carter’s Selected Poems in 1989, the poet and novelist Ian McDonald wrote: “He is, without reservation, one of the finest poets to have emerged in the Caribbean region. And the varied subtlety and strength of his poetry carries him without any doubt into the front rank of world poets. Long after the politics which prompted a number of his poems has been forgotten, and long after the society which he so scathingly indicted has been “hanged utterly’, the poetry will continue to strike a chord among new generations.”


When I asked Carter if he was concerned about lack of recognition, he replied: “It depends on who is doing the recognising. ”


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