Quote by Velma Pollard: “Always a journey, always a returning.”

This short phrase beautifully captures the cyclical nature of migration and identity, especially for those in the diaspora. It suggests that even when we leave, a part of us is always on the way back, maintaining a connection to our origins.

In the late 2010s, global migration patterns continued to intensify, with themes of displacement, belonging, and the cyclical nature of travel becoming increasingly pertinent. Pollard, through her later poetry, consistently reflects on these movements and the deep human need for connection to place.

Jamaican poet, novelist, and scholar whose work explores Caribbean women's lives, language, and spiritual experience. Her fiction and poetry draw on Jamaican oral traditions and Rastafarian thought to articulate a distinctly Caribbean feminist voice.