The inaugural issue of PREE centers on the theme “Crossroads” and how that single word captures and questions the interdisciplinarity of being Caribbean. The history that has been created here has not been forgotten. From the Arawak to the Taino people and all indigenous populations in between; from Africa, to Asia, to Europe, to North America; from ancient civilization to colonization to globalization; and from natural disasters to political dictatorships and man-made climate changes, the Caribbean has always existed at a crossroads of one kind or another.
Nearly a quarter way into the 21st century, the Caribbean is still at a crossroads. Are the circumstances of arrival and the experience of confrontation changing? What happens today when the self buck up the other, when nature confronts the machine, when feminist activism encounters toxic masculinity, when the digital new stands at the crossroads with the historical real? These are just some of the questions that we are exploring in this launch issue. PREE has invited submissions of prose, poetry, essays, and other written matter exploring the possibilities that exist at a crossroads.
Editorial
Letter from the Editor – Annie Paul
Letter from the Publisher – Sharmaine Lovegrove
Fiction
The Counting Up – Ingrid Persaud
Everybody Live Uptown Now – Roland Watson-Grant
Carousel – Leone Ross
Misc Correspondence from Trinidad 2017 – Anu Lakhan
Curry Duck – Sharon Millar
Leaving Island if at All – Oonya Kempadoo
Any Card Can Play – Vanessa Spence
Nothing the Forest Raises is a Monster – Ayanna G. Lloyd
Non-fiction
Land at the Crossroads: Pear Tree Bottom – Diana McCaulay
State Capture – Policy Dude
A Brief History of the Word Pree – Isis Semaj-Hall
Reggae’s Voice – Annie Paul and Mikie Bennett
Poetry
Solar Chariot – Ishion Hutchinson
A Nanny fi a cup a coffee / But We – Richard ‘Dingo’ Dingwall
Hood Top / The New Commandments / This Body’s Voice – Tanya Shirley
Essay
The White Women and the Language of Bees – Kei Miller
In Praise of Turtles: On Kei Miller’s essay The White Women and the Language of Bees – Diana McCaulay
Memoir
ART-icles
The Coloured Man / A Rainbow for Everyman – Peter Minshall
Island Smile / Bush Girl / Island in Hand / Island Head – Sheena Rose
Stick to the Evil you know / Flood – Kelley-Ann Lindo
Drama
Beauty is a Verb – Tanya Batson-Savage
Revisit
Poem for the Poorest Country in the Western Hemisphere – Danielle Legros Georges
PREE Shorties
I am Here – Sarah Manley
Breaking the Silences – Tanya Stephens
Swallowing Patwa – Smadi Pitni
Fat Joy – Shivanee Ramlochan