Local prizewinning poet and her reflections

BY GEMMA HANDY

The rigours of the corporate world may have characterised the bulk of her professional life, but it’s creative writing that gives Sandra Garland her sense of accomplishment and keeps her brain razor sharp.

Garland’s love affair with the written word spans decades, all the way back to when she was a young girl growing up in Salt Cay in the 1950s.

There’s one subject that inspires her more than any other –people, and specifically those she thinks deserve a plaudit. Those to have captured her imagination range from Gloria Lightbourne who created the Shining Stars Preparatory School in Providenciales, to Ketanji Brown Jackson who last year became the first Black woman to be seated on the US Supreme Court in its 232year history.

The latest to galvanise her into action is Weekly News publisher W. Blythe Duncanson, the protagonist of her poem ‘The Defender of the Fourth Estate’.

The 20-line ode to the veteran journalist describes Duncanson as an “excellent guardian” of industry ethics, one who “fears no friend nor adversary”.

The words were “spontaneous”, Garland says, but the topic had been “nagging” her for some time.

“I do poems for people who have done something astounding, spectacular, and I think Mr Duncanson is one of those people. He has fascinated me with his career over the years,” she explains.

Garland recalls the first time she met Duncanson again after he returned home to the TCI after many years living and working in the Bahamas. She even remembers how Duncanson himself had been inspired by legendary Nassau Tribune editor Etienne Dupuch who held the role from 1919 to 1973, his longevity earning him a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records.

In her poem, Garland describes Duncanson as “unflappable”.

“That’s how he seems to me; he