Preface of ‘Fattening up frog for snake’
A Preface
What is Cecil Newry attempting to rid himself of via the release of his verse full of passion? It seems he’d burn up werethey not released. Is he getting his eight to ten glasses of water a day? Would this cool him off? Would the result possibly be fewer poems, more falling tears, more falling stars?
These poems, intended to change the reader’s life, change the author’s life, I’m certain - a life which would, without his writing, be unbearable most likely. This reader though, especially in literature, seeks bricks to build the edifices which art requires.
Cecil Newry, in Fattening Up Frog for Snake, provides us many verses. Concerned about soundness, about structure, about substance, contemplating purchase, I examine these closely. I need what would withstand weather, weight, time, wear. Under pressure, will what Cecil has provided us, come apart, collapse into bits and pieces like biscuit? Let time and use tell us and him. Good luck to Cecil and to what he adds to the Bahamian attempt to create a national literature.
By Obediah Michael Smith/Poet
February 21, 2004