Cave Canem » Blog Archive » Webster , Claudette

Claudette Webster

Website
Years: 2003, 2004

Biography

Claudette M. Webster is a native of Jamaica, West Indies, and an educator, community organizer and facilitator. She is a Cave Canem Fellow (2003, 2004) and a founding member of The Berkshire Festival of Women Writers. Ms. Webster earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College in 2014; her thesis manuscript For All A We I is based on her family history of immigration and assimilation. In 2016, Ms. Webster participated in The Home School Conference and was resident at Vermont Studio of the Arts. She lives in Minneapolis.

Poem

Jamaica Dawn

with the breaking

birdsong she is already on her way

to the church – a prayer in every step.

Inside she kneels

cloaked in stillness and ceremony

her mind and heart quietens.

There with her God

the one who really listen

she is embraced

and receives the gift of speaking in tongues

a yoked honor

she bares with majesty.

shape-shifter,

shape-maker,

shape-master.

“By the time I leave a CC Retreat, I can feel that the internal imperative to Write! has shifted from an obsessive, isolating quality to one of deep communal rites and responsibilities – what healthier transition exists for an artist?

Geffrey Davis

2015-11-26T15:51:22+00:00

Geffrey Davis

https://cavecanempoets.org/testimonials/geffrey-davis/

“There is nothing like being seen by the eyes of those who, without explanation, understand why you do what you do when you do it. There is nothing like not having to decode or apologize for the sweet pleasure of a word or phrase that will not let loose of your ear.”

Nikky Finney, The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South

2015-11-26T15:29:19+00:00

Nikky Finney, The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South

https://cavecanempoets.org/testimonials/nikky-finney-the-ringing-ear-black-poets-lean-south/

“While I can't even begin to measure Cave Canem's value to me personally (community, friendship, rigor), we all can see the radical movement it’s occasioned in American poetry. To be plain: it's changed—and is changing—the face(s) of our literary landscape. How often in our lives will we be able to participate in something as important and beautiful? It's a joy to support this."

Ross Gay, Fellow

2015-11-26T15:44:48+00:00

Ross Gay, Fellow

https://cavecanempoets.org/testimonials/285/

“Cave Canem is a kind of heaven, yes. It’s not just that we are speaking to each other there as black people; it’s that we’ve lived the lives of black poets. We’ve faced the fears, the hurts, and we’re still poets. To undertake and stay with this task, usually so unrewarded, creates a kind of strength and compassion that is enormous.”

Toi Derricotte

2015-11-26T15:31:58+00:00

Toi Derricotte

https://cavecanempoets.org/testimonials/toi-derricotte/

“Back in 2000 when I was first accepted at Cave Canem, I was working part-time at a bookstore making less than $7 an hour. The scholarship I received was the only reason I was able to attend, and it changed my writing life by introducing me to mentors like Toi Derricotte and Nikky Finney and eventually connecting me to the editor who published my first book. Please consider changing another poet's life by supporting Cave Canem financially.”

Traci Dant, Fellow

2015-11-26T15:44:16+00:00

Traci Dant, Fellow

https://cavecanempoets.org/testimonials/284/