checking out me history

• 1. poem focuses on power of memories and reclamation of identity
• 2. critic of Eurocentric views imposed on him

  • "Dick Whittington" - European fiction prioritised over black history
  • "bandage" "blind" - mentally injured
  • use of nursery rhymes
• 3. reclamation and empowerment of black history

  • stanzas become shorter and rhymic - emphasis on Carribean culture
  • "de" "dem" - resists dominant language
  • "I carving out me identity" - forceful, rewriting history
  • "hopeful stream to freedom river" - giving of future freedom and hope