There is a distinct difference between reading and performing poetry. Similarly, along with that difference between the two methods of delivering poetry directly to an audience there tends to be dissimilar approaches to crafting the verse in the first place.

That established, the 22 poems performed in 51 minutes and 46 seconds on Yasus Afari's new album Kiss Mi Neck were obviously shaped for performance (not that they are unsuitable for reading) and, on this set where he delivers them without music unlike his previous albums, they work very well.

A clarification is necessary. The poems may not be supported with drums, bass, rhythm and lead guitars and keyboards, the pillars of popular Jamaican music instrumentation, but they are not without music. Many are structured like songs, with a distinct refrain; the lines have a distinct metre which Yasus Afari's voice fully exploits (he comes close to singing on the refrain of 'Now That She's Gone'); and the often multi-layered arrangements of beautiful harmonies all come together to make music.

There are also little touches that bring a smile; on 'Pick Pocket', Yasus Afari takes action against the intended thief:

An' as di han reach inna mi pocket

Ah heng on pon it

Grab out mi knife

An' neatly core it

And a voice says, "serve him right!". It is a good touch, as are the children fussing before 'My Mother Who Fathered Me'.

There is more humour on the album; in the introduction to 'Hi-Gene', Yasus Afari says he had an encounter with someone and, long after the person left "me see him wid mi nose an him colour was green". Further in the poem he says "yu malice wata so yu haffi confess".

'Afromantic' streak

Humour is not to be blurred with comedy, though, and while there is much to laugh about in the opening 'Patwah Taakin' (an Afromantic gentleman tells the ladies "mi love yu lakka breshe an' banana"), the point about the value of language is well taken.

That 'Afromantic' streak runs through Kiss Mi Neck, poems in that vein including 'Thinking of the Girl I Love', 'Woman', 'Mental Orgasm' and 'Blouse and Skirt', the last two delving into word play.

Family and friendship are addressed on 'My Mother Who Fathered Me' and 'Friend and Friendship', with 'Friends of the Earth' about friendship of a more global kind - the relationship between human beings and the planet we inhabit.

Much of Kiss Mi Neck was recorded before a studio audience, which comes in especially useful on 'Komplex', where a chorus of voices chants "complex" and "vex" at the relevant places, one voice shouts "yeah!" in delight and there is cheering at the end. The chorale effect is also felt following the line "the earth is a friend" on 'Friends of the Earth'.

The title poem is the tale of an encounter with a woman of the less than pleasant kind "the bait was ready and the trap was set ... now I had to make a narrow escape/from a perceived, looming disaster".

straightforward approach

Yasus Afari generally takes a straightforward approach to poetry, presenting fundamental issues in clear language. So on 'Freedum' he goes to the meaning of life (he shows his appreciation for it on the final track, 'Moment of Life'), suggesting:

Now ask yourself, who am I?

Why am I here?

What's my purpose in life?

A whe me come from?

A whe me deh?

A wha me name?

A whe me a go?

However, on one of the few deviations from the rhythmic approach, I found 'Flowers' to be far too predictable and cliché-riddled ("Flowers, of how beautiful/You are so dutiful/Flowers of so conspicuous/To the bees you must be delicious). In all fairness, though, it appears on the album before the first poem he ever wrote, 'The Travelling Son' (which has snoring and cock-crowing among its sound effects) and since the poems are not dated we do not know at which point of his life it was written.

- Mel Cooke

Track listing

1. Patwah Taakin

2. Pick Pocket

3. My Mother Who Fathered Me

4. My Own Eyes

5. Freedum

6. Komplex

7. Hi-Gene

8. Blouse and Skirt

9. iPen

10. Work

11. Now That You're Gone

12. Thinking of the Girl I Love

13. Friend and Friendship

14. Woman

15. Mental Orgasm

16. Flowers

17. The Travelling Son

18. Friends of the Earth

19. Sumting a Brew

20. Teet

21. Kiss Mi Neck

22. Moment of Life