SOURCE: Pollard, Velma. “An Introduction to the Poetry and Fiction of Olive Senior.” Callaloo 11, no. 3 (summer 1988): 540-45.

In the following essay, Pollard surveys the key thematic concerns in Senior's short stories and poetry.

Short stories and poems by Olive Senior have been appearing in journals and anthologies in Jamaica and overseas for more than a decade. It was not however till December 1985 that the first complete volume reached the bookstands—a collection of poems, Talking of Trees, published by Calabash Press, Jamaica. A few months later (early 1986), a collection of short stories, Summer Lightning and other stories, now in its second printing, was published by Longman, U.K. This paper discusses the more common themes in Senior's prose and poetry and comments briefly on their treatment.

Senior's short stories and poetry are the work of a creative talent of great sensitivity which expresses tremendous understanding of the human...