Subversive sonnets: Poems

Poetry. These "subversive sonnets" overhaul the traditional sonnet form to address a range of subjects, from the tenderness of love to the terror of rape, punishment, torture, and murder. The poet's quest is to corral iambics into the demotic of Jamaican creoles as well as forms of English past and present. Mordecai has an unfailing ear for voices, for the music that sings and laughs and laments the stories of family, clan, and tribe, and thus celebrating life. SUBVERSIVE SONNETS is Pamela Mordecai's fifth collection of poetry.