Ralph Thompson (poet)
Encyclopedia
Ralph Thompson, C.D. is a Jamaican businessman, educational activist, artist and poet.
. His mother's family, "a mixture of crypto Jewish (Isaacs) and Irish stock (Fielding)", was "staunchly Catholic and claimed to be white". He was educated by Jesuits both at St George's College in Kingston
and at Fordham University
in New York, where he earned a Doctor of Law degree in 1952. After graduation he served for two years as an officer in the United States Air Force
, principally in Japan
, but returned to Jamaica in 1953, married a Jamaican, Doreen Lyons, in 1954, and has since lived in Kingston with his wife and children save for a brief period in the 1970s.
Thompson's business career was initially in property development with Abe Issa, the 'father of Jamaican tourism', then independently. After his return to Jamaica he was deeply involved in governmental redevelopment of agriculture, and in 1988 was appointed a Commander of Distinction by the administration of Edward Seaga
. His last major post was as CEO of Seprod Ltd, a large Jamaican manufacturing firm supplying household products and consumer goods for the local market.
Thompson is also a noted educational activist, speaking on radio and TV, and frequently writing for The Gleaner and The Observer. He is also an amateur painter, and has publicly exhibited several times in Kingston; a selection of his paintings was published by Peepal Tree Press
in 2008.
, submitted some poems as part of an assignment, and was encouraged to publish them. He began to write poetry more intensively, and in 1987 Alan Ross
accepted 'Florida' for the London Magazine
. Thompson has subsequently published more than 20 poems in British, US, and Caribbean journals, including The Caribbean Writer and The Mississippi Review. His work is represented in The Heinemann Book of Caribbean Poetry (1992), A World of Poetry for CXC (1994), several Observer Arts Magazine anthologies, The Oxford Book of Caribbean Verse (2005), and Writers Who Paint / Painters Who Write (2007).
He has published two collections of poetry and a verse novel
:
These volumes were all positively reviewed both in local Jamaican publications and in The Caribbean Review of Books and The Caribbean Writer. Thompson was encouraged to write View from Mount Diablo
by Derek Walcott
, a personal friend, and it won the Jamaican National Literary Prize in manuscript in 2001. It was also warmly praised by the Pulitzer Prize
-winning Jamaican-American poet Louis Simpson
:
The verse novel was serialised in The Gleaner, and the first edition sold more than 300 copies in Jamaica (where average sale of any new paperback is c.70).
A CD of Thompson reading 28 of his poems, Taking Words for a Walk, was released by the Intermedia Foundation, NY, in 2006. In the liner notes the distinguished Jamaican poet Edward Baugh
, who is Professor Emeritus of Caribbean Literature at the University of the West Indies, Mona, says:
Life and Business Career
Thompson was born in Poughkeepsie, NY to a Jamaican mother and US father, but the marriage lasted only three years, and from 1931 he and his sister were raised in JamaicaJamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
. His mother's family, "a mixture of crypto Jewish (Isaacs) and Irish stock (Fielding)", was "staunchly Catholic and claimed to be white". He was educated by Jesuits both at St George's College in Kingston
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...
and at Fordham University
Fordham University
Fordham University is a private, nonprofit, coeducational research university in the United States, with three campuses in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St...
in New York, where he earned a Doctor of Law degree in 1952. After graduation he served for two years as an officer in the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
, principally in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, but returned to Jamaica in 1953, married a Jamaican, Doreen Lyons, in 1954, and has since lived in Kingston with his wife and children save for a brief period in the 1970s.
Thompson's business career was initially in property development with Abe Issa, the 'father of Jamaican tourism', then independently. After his return to Jamaica he was deeply involved in governmental redevelopment of agriculture, and in 1988 was appointed a Commander of Distinction by the administration of Edward Seaga
Edward Seaga
Edward Philip George Seaga ON PC was the fifth Prime Minister of Jamaica from 1980 to 1989 and Leader of the Jamaica Labour Party from 1974 to 2005. He served as leader of the opposition from 1974 to 1980 and again from 1989 until January 2005...
. His last major post was as CEO of Seprod Ltd, a large Jamaican manufacturing firm supplying household products and consumer goods for the local market.
Thompson is also a noted educational activist, speaking on radio and TV, and frequently writing for The Gleaner and The Observer. He is also an amateur painter, and has publicly exhibited several times in Kingston; a selection of his paintings was published by Peepal Tree Press
Peepal Tree Press
Peepal Tree Press, based in England, publishes Caribbean, Black British and South Asian fiction, poetry and academic books.Peepal Tree is a wholly independent company, founded in 1985, and now publishes around 30-40 books a year. Peepal Tree Press has published over 250 titles, and states a...
in 2008.
Poetry
During his residence in Florida in the late 1970s Thompson took a Masters in English Literature at the University of South FloridaUniversity of South Florida
The University of South Florida, also known as USF, is a member institution of the State University System of Florida, one of the state's three flagship universities for public research, and is located in Tampa, Florida, USA...
, submitted some poems as part of an assignment, and was encouraged to publish them. He began to write poetry more intensively, and in 1987 Alan Ross
Alan Ross
Alan John Ross, , was a British poet, writer and editor. He was born in Calcutta, India, where he spent the first seven years of his life...
accepted 'Florida' for the London Magazine
London Magazine
The London Magazine is a historied publication of arts, literature and miscellaneous interests. Its history ranges nearly three centuries and several reincarnations, publishing the likes of William Wordsworth, William S...
. Thompson has subsequently published more than 20 poems in British, US, and Caribbean journals, including The Caribbean Writer and The Mississippi Review. His work is represented in The Heinemann Book of Caribbean Poetry (1992), A World of Poetry for CXC (1994), several Observer Arts Magazine anthologies, The Oxford Book of Caribbean Verse (2005), and Writers Who Paint / Painters Who Write (2007).
He has published two collections of poetry and a verse novel
Verse novel
A verse novel is a type of narrative poetry in which a novel-length narrative is told through the medium of poetry rather than prose. Either simple or complex stanzaic verse-forms may be used, but there will usually be a large cast, multiple voices, dialogue, narration, description, and action in a...
:
- The Denting of a Wave (Leeds: Peepal Tree Press, 1992) ISBN 0-948833-62-9
- Moving On (Leeds: Peepal Tree Press, 1997) ISBN 1-90075-17-1
- View from Mount Diablo (Leeds: Peepal Tree Press, 2003; 2nd, annotated ed., Leeds: Peepal Tree Press, & Tirril: Humanities-Ebooks, 2009) ISBN 1-900715-81-3 (2003) ISBN 978-1-84523-144-6 (2009 paperback) ISBN 978-1-84760-093-6 (2009 digital)
These volumes were all positively reviewed both in local Jamaican publications and in The Caribbean Review of Books and The Caribbean Writer. Thompson was encouraged to write View from Mount Diablo
View from Mount Diablo
View from Mount Diablo is a verse novel by Ralph Thompson , which won the Jamaican National Literary Award in manuscript in 2001, and was published by Peepal Tree Press in 2003...
by Derek Walcott
Derek Walcott
Derek Alton Walcott, OBE OCC is a Saint Lucian poet, playwright, writer and visual artist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992 and the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2011 for White Egrets. His works include the Homeric epic Omeros...
, a personal friend, and it won the Jamaican National Literary Prize in manuscript in 2001. It was also warmly praised by the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
-winning Jamaican-American poet Louis Simpson
Louis Simpson
Louis Aston Marantz Simpson is an American poet. He won the 1964 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his work At The End Of The Open Road.-Life:...
:
View from Mount Diablo is a remarkable achievement. Its knowledge of the island, the entwining of private lives and politics, lifts Jamaican poetry to a level that has not been attempted before. The poetry is strong, imaginative, fascinating in detail. It describes terrible things with understatement, yet with compassion. I don't think anything could be more harrowing than the rape of Chantal, or the boy begging Alexander to spare his life ... This is narrative poetry at its best.
The verse novel was serialised in The Gleaner, and the first edition sold more than 300 copies in Jamaica (where average sale of any new paperback is c.70).
A CD of Thompson reading 28 of his poems, Taking Words for a Walk, was released by the Intermedia Foundation, NY, in 2006. In the liner notes the distinguished Jamaican poet Edward Baugh
Edward Baugh
Edward Alston Cecil Baugh is a Jamaican poet and scholar, recognised as an authority on the work of Derek Walcott.He was born in Port Antonio, Jamaica, and began writing poetry at Titchfield High School...
, who is Professor Emeritus of Caribbean Literature at the University of the West Indies, Mona, says:
Rippling through these poems, nuancing their meaning, is an alertness to class and color distinctions, which grounds the poems in Jamaican social reality and no doubt in the poet's own place in that reality. In "Carpenters," for instance, it matters that peasant Malcolm is "purple black," while the boy is "nearly white." In the sharply, wittily satirical "Pride and Prejudice," the central factor of color consciousness and discrimination operates across cultural boundaries. On a more ominous note are the poems which evoke the sense of social malaise and schism in contemporary Jamaica, a malaise that seems to threaten violent upheaval, poems such as "Vigil," "Death of a Honda Rider," "Jamaican Gothic," "The Garden," and "This New Light".