Jason Allen-Paisant, a Jamaican-born poet and academic, explores themes of class, identity, and belonging in his debut nonfiction book, The Possibility of Tenderness. Written after his poetry collections, it examines his grandmother's life and the landscapes of his upbringing in Jamaica and England. This work combines prose and poetry, aiming to convey how his origins influence his identity as a writer. By telling his grandmother's story, he delves into deeper questions about food independence, globalization, landscapes, and the kinship with plants and people that shape his writing and existence.
I started with a mix of poetry and prose. Then I thought to write a series of essays [and] hammer out some of these big questions around leisure and class within nature.
Living between two different landscapes. I wrote this book to understand how the place I grew up, which is so far away from where I am now both socially and class-wise, shaped me as a writer.
I needed to write to understand where I am now in relation to where I came from. My grandma, Mama, she's the protagonist outside myself.
I can use the story of her life to talk about planting, food independence, food sovereignty, living with plants, plants as medicine, globalization and its effects.
Collection
[
|
...
]