brathwaitian engines of expression: Anthony Joseph on the Influence of Kamau Brathwaite

Anthony Joseph is a radical wordsmith. His work makes language elastic, stretching it to capture the sounds and rhythms of Trinidad, the Caribbean region, and the Caribbean diaspora. He works in several forms—poetry, prose, music, and scholarly research—but his work is always, at its foundation, poetic. Joseph has earned positive critical reviews for his writings, which include four collections of poetry and a novel, The African Origins of UFOs (Salt, 2006), which Kamau Brathwaite describes as “great new ‘second generation’ Caribbean stuff—movin away from the script & the Scruff—or ratha—betta!—writin upon it—over and under it.” This interview about Brathwaite’s influence on Joseph took place in Brooklyn, New York, on 8 November 2016, and was edited for publication in January 2018.