Hurricane Hits England - Grace Nichols (Performed by Grace Nichols Herself)

Poem transcript availible by clicking 'more'

Poem: Hurricane Hits England
Written and performed by: Grace Nichols
Animation by: Jake Robinson

© Grace Nichols Media 2004

It took a hurricane, to bring her closer
To the landscape
Half the night she lay awake,
The howling ship of the wind
Its gathering rage,
Like some dark ancestral spectre,
Fearful and reassuring:

Talk to me Huracan
Talk to me Oya
Talk to me Shango
And Hattie,
My sweeping, back-home cousin.

Tell me why you visit.
An English coast?
What is the meaning
Of old tongues
Reaping havoc
In new places?

The blinding illumination,
Even as you short-
Circuit us
Into further darkness?

What is the meaning of trees
Falling heavy as whales
Their crusted roots
Their cratered graves?

O Why is my heart unchained?

Tropical Oya of the Weather,
I am aligning myself to you,
I am following the movement of your winds,
I am riding the mystery of your storm.

Ah, sweet mystery;
Come to break the frozen lake in me,
Shaking the foundations of the very trees within me,
That the earth is the earth is the earth.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• English
• Language
• Grace
• Nichols
• Hurricane
• Hits
• England
• Poem
• Poems
• Literature
• GCSE
• Anthology
• Other
• Culture

[dindins121]

Hi i would like to say that i'm so sorry:) and i would like to correct my mistake i'v looked into it more if you look on youtube Hurricane? the great storm in England 1987, and it will show you it really was a Hurricane the name for it i think is Florence.

As for Grace Nichols it's beautiful the way she tells it THE TRUTH:) i love it, and think i was in that Hurricane in London.

[jakejrobinson]

:)

im nto bothered but well done for looking more into it

[dindins121]

I do not get it i remember that night very well it was not called a Hurricane it was always called the great storm of 1987 for the last two yeas in the TV Documentaries are calling the Hurricane we don't know what to think that's why people are getting it wrong,

IT WAS NOT CALLED A HURRICANE BEFORE!!!

[jakejrobinson]

Well bring that up with the author or her publisher.

[jakejrobinson]

I hope some of you find this useful for exam revision

[TheObliviousBlackout]

Who doesn't love a Caribbean voice?!

This Poem is truly spectacular

[MrStevieboy1997]

crap poem go home

[MrStevieboy1997]

shit paki



[32780tit]

niger, fuck off

[LeahHeathxx]

Sounds something out of pirates of the Caribbean :) xx

[ACrules08]

hey, it's calypso!

[Spartanc19]

@jesebert2 Lol im in year 7 and ahead as well lol

[mmikaylaambrose]

I am one of the children that are the last to do this as part of my english gcse. By next year children in year 10 and 11 will not being learning this poem (& other poems) because of the stupid examiners changing the course (the freaks).

[jesebert2]

im in year 8 and studing this yh im smart

[Abominatrix650]

Everyone in my class (I'm in an elite group of 10) after hearing it for the first time, described the following scene: "AAAARRRGGHHH!!! RUN! IT'S GONNA KILL US!"

(The persona in the poet is standing, embracing the Hurricane) "Come to me! Tell me why you are here!" This reminds me of Storm, especially the X Men: Evolution episode where some tribal leader tries to take her powers!