Brown Eyes Watching: Reflections of a Black Canadian Poet

An eclectic collection of story-poems on belonging, history, current events, and longing.

Here, Jamaica meets Canada. Here, the same sun warms a white-sand beach and a silver lake, and the leaves of both maple and mango trees move in the morning breeze. Here, lyrical and spoken word poems rest and rhyme side by side, engaging young or older readers alike.

Having been a Watcher since childhood, Vilma Blenman arrived in Canada at age 17. She has continued to watch people, places, and events all her life. She gathered her poems after teaching her students to write theirs and hearing them ask, “Miss, where’s your poem?” Here are some of them.

Vilma Blenman blends words and worlds like spices to create a potent poetry mash up leaving you begging, “More, please!”