Explore the poem

Berry confronts ignorant, unintended racism in this poem with amused compassion. The woman who sits down beside him on the train and starts up a conversation is a Quaker. Quakers are normally seen as great advocates of human rights and social justice, so the nature of the conversation that follows is ironic. Quakers worship communally by waiting in silence until someone is moved by the spirit to speak. Clearly, this has happened to the woman, who tells Berry that she spoke on Sunday in support of ‘racial brotherhood’.

Notice the third verse, where Berry reflects upon his earlier life in Jamaica and his father’s banana field. What might have prompted that recollection?

The woman’s precarious grasp of geography is revealed when she confuses Africa and Jamaica, but Berry is not offended. He responds to her in a gentle, humorous way and one which no doubt passes lightly over the woman’s head. The charms of snow are contrasted symbolically with the attractiveness of a sunny climate before Berry concludes the poem by choosing to focus on the woman’s sincerity rather than her ignorance. Does the idea of people sitting down ‘around us’ in the last line suggest an element of harmony and understanding?

About James Berry

James Berry was brought up in Jamaica and was fascinated by words and stories from an early age. However, he saw few opportunities to flourish in the town of his birth, where access to books was limited, and he set sail for England in 1948.

Working by day and studying in the evening, he began to write, and by the late 1970s he was ready to embark on a career that saw him publish several collections of poetry for adults, stories and poems for children and two highly influential anthologies of British/West Indian writing. His work explores a wide range of subjects, including his West Indian roots, the experiences of the West Indian community in England and relationships between communities. There is anger at injustice and oppression but also a celebration of generosity and unity among communities.