In opening yet another chapter of her life Dr Oluwakemi M Linda Banks, clinical psychologist and associate professor of psychology, is launching her first published book of poetry, Starfish – a JOURNEY in Healing on Friday April 6th at Magic City in the Farrington at 7:00 pm.
This, her first anthology of poems incorporates her psychological and cultural work. The Starfish collection comprises five parts, with each possessing a distinctively regenerative character and flow. It is enveloped by a spirit of vulnerability that is deliberate and universal, for regardless of who we are in the world, or where we are perched in the strata of life, we all are in need of healing. Part One of the Starfish Collection is comprised of poems which support Healing From Violence, Part Two – Reaching out and Embracing Life, Part Three – The Power of Love, Part Four – Reconnecting with the Divine in Me and Part Five – Healing and Freedom.
Dr Banks has decided to use the starfish as a metaphor for healing because in researching the starfish phenomenon she has discovered some amazing facts about these seemingly inconsequential, humble sea creatures.
“The Starfish has an amazing ability to heal, grow and regenerate limbs and even its entire body into new physical ways of existing. We too possess the potential to develop new ways of thinking and being that can facilitate healing and renewal. With STARFISH as your ally these possibilities can become your new reality.”
Starfish is about compassion, understanding and what is common to people who overcome suffering. With each poem the voice of healing grows more audible as it blends in with that of restoration. The author engages readers in a labyrinth of varying, yet familiar emotions of shunning negativity and embracing joyfulness, with a sense that one can recover from a fall from any depth or magnitude if we re-connect with our power source. The collection swings effortlessly between personal struggle and reliance on the divine as seen in the poem Solitude where the author writes: ‘Solitude sweet solitude when it’s just you and me, channels flow full and free to restore the God in me….’ Each poem is a celebration of victory over despair and an evocative call to hang on to every sliver of hope if we are to regenerate our lives and to strive for higher ideals, if we are to live successfully in this troubling world. It is encouraging, enlightening and empowering.
Dr Banks has been writing poetry, songs, children’s short stories, and dramatic narrations from an early age. Her productions have been used regionally, locally and internationally. One of her early productions “Beautiful Isle – St Lucia Helen of the West”, which she was asked to write for the St Lucia government in 1969, was St Lucia’s first national songs and in 1968 she also wrote the lyrics for the anthem “Pursuit of Excellence” for the St Lucia Teachers’ College which is now the anthem of Sir Arthur Lewis Community College at Morne Fortune, St Lucia. She also earned second place in the competition for Anguilla’s national song.
Dr Banks, who, according to the editor of Design Anguilla Leading Ladies Issue 10, has one of the most extensive CV’s you’ll ever read. She first recited her poems at the 2013 Litfest with the Anguilla Underground Poetry Club and again in 2014 and at the Litfest in 2015 and 2016. Her poetry has been published by the BBC as a 2014 Commonwealth Games poetry postcard and in the 2015 publication of “Where I see the Sun” an anthology produced for Anguillian poets by the House of Nehesi Publishers in St Martin.
The Starfish launch programme on April 6th at 7:00pm will consist of a varied, entertaining and fascinating programme of Dr Banks’ poetry read by well-known and accomplished fellow poets, family and friends, musical entertainment by family and friends as well as a video presentation. Among the poems is one using the Starfish metaphor called Starfish lessons from Disaster, to illustrate how persons can learn from disasters of any kind, even Hurricane Irma.
As a clinical psychologist and a specialist in human resource development, the concept of healing is one which embodies the essence of Dr Banks’ existence and the Starfish compilation presents the reader with the opportunity to embrace healing on many levels. She believes that all of us have been bruised on our journey through life, hence her recommendation that we “Be gentle with people, everyone’s bruised”. She believes that there is at least one poem in the collection that will make a healing difference in the life of those who read it. We can therefore create ripples of healing through the world, one person at a time or one starfish at a time!
Dr Banks’ vision statement, which undergirds her multifaceted profile, is:
I am the possibility of universal transformation through spiritual leadership in a world manifesting the beauty and the glory of the creator.
