Identity
The identity of my father as I’ve known him is laidback, funny, gentle. I know about his love for calypso, and about his longing for Trinidad and Tobago. However, reading his poetry I never realized how much he had to go through in university. I had always imagined that his university life was fun and a little crazy, and he met my mother and then there was me and my brother. I never really realized that his early university days were filled with such strife. Reading his poetry has given me an insight to my dad that I never could have fathomed before—I knew I’d gotten my love of writing from him, but not to the degree that I understand now.
Reading this poem is important for me in understanding my father because of the way the poem is written. The writing is written in the dialect that my father used as a child. While reading the poem I imagined myself reading it in my father’s accent. I was able to connect to him through his poem and understand his mindset while he was writing the poem, as well as learn a little more about him through the poem. I understand him better through the work as I learn a little about how his childhood was like where he lived and the “ritual” of picking mangos.
“Thiefing Mango” is my favorite of his works because it represents a wacky ritual of picking mangos from trees, something my dad enjoyed as a kid and comments on now and again as an adult. Even his more darker poems illuminate to me an image of a younger, more lonely version of him that I can identify with (as a college student living away from home).
Poetry has the capability of sharing the author’s identity and culture with the reader. Culture can be learnt through content of the poem, and understanding of themes. Roshan Ramhit’s identity can be constructed through the reading of his poetry, and the reader can understand the misgivings he went through as a young college student in an unfamiliar environment. The reader can identify with him on some level, and enjoy his darker (or lighter) poetry.