Time Come: Selected Prose

British-Jamaican poet Johnson (Mi Revalueshanary Fren) presents a thoughtful anthology of previously published essays, most focusing on art, Caribbean history, and the minutiae of the Black British experience. The book is divided into five sections, comprising pieces written from 1975 to 2021 that ran in outlets including the Times Literary Supplement, the Guardian, and Race Today. Part one is dedicated to Johnson’s music writing, most of which examines how the reggae of Bob Marley, the Wailers, and others coalesced to form “the spiritual expression of the historical experience of the Afro-Jamaican.” Part two outlines how Johnson found his literary voice with the drumming group Rasta Love, with whom he explored Jamaican Creole as a “deejay turned poet,” overdubbing phrases onto the background rhythms of various songs. Elsewhere, Johnson shares that he turned to poetry “as a visceral need to creatively articulate the experiences of the black youth of my generation, coming of age in a racist society,” after reading W.E.B. Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk, and speaks to how racial uprisings in the U.K. throughout the 1980s “unleashed a new wave of black creativity in the arts.” Throughout, Johnson remains lively, involving company, though certain sections—his writing on politics, in particular—shine brighter than others. This is a welcome addition to a sterling literary catalog. Agent: Suresh Ariaratnam, Sprung Sultan. (Dec.)