A book for all times.

"For Judas Iscariot in Heaven," by Anthony Joyette a contemporary, voice of Black Canadian thought, gives a concise view of our civilized world today. Upon opening Joyette's new collection of poetry, one comes face to face with a burning soulful piece of work entitled "Home." The poem conjures up numerous images of where the human heart would like to settle in this ever changing world The poem encompasses the cortex of the human challenge on earth with lines such as the following which holds a profound meaning to me.

   Where freedom bells
   make mockery, of human dignity,
   where Gods with manmade
   appetites, feast from pleasures
   of deceit
   and shifts of labour
   falls to neon gods
   in blankets of fatigue.

The simplicity and truthfulness of the poet's wisdom shines through like a ray of hope in the poem Feminist Discourse (the eighties)

   Child ...
   God is not a bad woman.
   It is man
   who is a bad God.

Joyette's writing expresses a high state of pure brilliance. An example is the poem "For Judas Iscariot in Heaven in which he dazzles us with his mastery of language and knowledge of History, Mythology and Literature. His writing weaves a tale interwoven with some of his remarkable images--Joyette is the foremost artist ever to be born in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

As I read Judas Iscariot in Heaven. I reflected upon my own existence on this earth and felt humbled by this writer's insights about the human consciousness. "Judas Iscariot" is filled with clandestine messages as deep and enlightening as the Da Vinci Code. It cast a spell that last long after the reader has put down the book

The name "Judas" always conjured the perfect example of betrayal, As a matter of fact the name is a metaphor for betrayal through the ages. What comes to mind when I read the poem "Last Train" is how Governments the world over are betraying their people with hypocrisies, corruption and ineptitudes. Joyette describes the social nature of our times as one of confusion, because there are no more leaders with visions as large as the country they lead and our education is not about creating these, but to create rich men and women Gone are the days of intellectual politicians! Gone are the days of great education!

   What's left to take,
   but the city's ethnic innocence,
   Economic strategies of
   rouges and charlatans
   As multiracial tragedies
   flow through concrete veins,
   carrying tomorrow's life support
   incorrectly labelled

   Gone are the days of intellectual
   politicians!
   Gone are the days of great education!

I was touched by the poet's sense of social consciousness also expressed in other poems including "Targets and Bullet Holes," "Epitaph," "Love's Venomous Sting" and "Corridor" one of his longer ones. I also marveled at the poet's sensitivity shown in the poem "Hostage." The following stanzas holds a profound meaning for me.

   Gloom drapes my dreams
   and darkness covers me
   in this sea of fear and disparity
   and I wait for Persephone
   with a bitter taste of life.

   And I wait for her arrival
   among the dim recesses of
   uncertainty, in this pugatory

   of man's inhumanity to man.

Other poems I found interesting are "Prelude to Destiny" in which the poet sums up sadly but beautifully the failures of humanity to itself. Our children are the inheritors of our "stale life that envelopes us."

Judas Iscariot in Heaven, shows the introspective elegance of Joyette's creative thought patterns that permeates the poem "Sunday Morning Ritual," which sings of a quiet hope.

   I am reborn
   to another experience,
   another week
   Another Sunday morning ritual,

Anthony Joyette has a remarkably beautiful, elegant style of writing, all his own. These come out in this collection which is thoughtful, sometimes perplexing, heartfelt book. It is held together by ribbons of mythology that took me through a Kaleidoscope of emotions. The book lends itself to my intellect, since it is not about doom. Gloom? Yes, but there is that thread of hope that runs through the book. Joyette leaves no illusion of what he thinks of life on earth. He reaches out to the conscience, letting it know that life is a place that is not always kind to itself This can be seen from the struggles of the human spirit and the way it treats itself and the cycle of life and death continues. As it does he will surely leave his mark on writing.

I wish him and his book the greatest of success and hopes that he writes many more. I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for sharing his thoughts with us. I also hope that you will savour the power and depth of this writer whom I consider to be one of the great minds of our time.