Not surprisingly, Phases has attracted much critical prepublication praise. A comment at the back of the book by Augustus Cadette (poet, social worker, and author of In my Craft), said: “Phases is a collection of over fifty dew‑drenched poems that speak powerfully to a past when living was peaceful and growing up was fun, and a present whose dynamic invokes nostalgia and a craving for a return to the past. Phases will certainly propel Modeste Downes into cultural importance and rank him among the most prominent exponents of the lyrical art form. Ultimately, he will have stamped his own mark on a poetry that is crafted in the shadow of the awesome Pitons, at the foothills of the enchanting Moule‑a‑Chique.”
Similarly, Michael Aubertin, author of Neg Maron: Freedom Fighters, and former director of the Department of Culture, said: “Some of Modeste Downes’ poems are acrid, like the taste of the sea‑grapes that festoon the beaches of Vieux Fort. Others are nostalgic, insightful, cynical, bold, but all elements of a veritable feast. Downes has captured the salt sea‑spray of the south (with which) he has seasoned most pages of his work.”
Likewise, Jacques Compton, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Chavalier De L’Ordre Des Arts Et Des Lettres, and former director of Radio St. Lucian and the Department of Culture, said: “¼impassioned poetry ¼ beautifully crafted images and metaphors that linger long in the memory ¼ appealing to our sensibility, tugging at our heartstrings ¼ Like that of Mr. Walcott, achieves the highest eloquence of passion¼. produces an exquisite sense of beauty¼ lifts us from the deepest woe to the highest contemplation of what life could be¼ A nationalistic and romantic poet with echoes of William Wordsworth, and Oliver Goldsmith and reminiscent of Mr. Derek Walcott’s Another Life¼”
And, Dr. Anderson Reynolds, author of Death by Fire, and The Struggle For Survival: an historical, political, and socioeconomic perspective of St. Lucia, said: “Like a surgeon with a scalper, Phases dissects St. Lucian society to reveal and diagnose its spiritual and social ills. Yet like an artiste with a paint brush, Phases celebrates the uniqueness and hence the very essence of our culture. The title poem is a moving, epic poem of the history of Vieux Fort, the likes of which not seen before. Phases is undoubtedly one of the most compelling and significant pieces of literature to come out of St. Lucia in the past two decades.”
Some have said that the publication of Dr. Reynolds’ two books—Death by Fire and The Struggle For Survival: an historical, political, and socioeconomic perspective of St. Lucia—suggests the development of a body of literature in Vieux Fort, which is helping to raise the cultural and literary profile of this most southern of St. Lucian towns. If so, then as one of the few full volumes of poetry to come out of Vieux Fort, Phases with its Isaiahnical voice and overwhelming focus on Vieux Fort will no doubt become an important addition to this southern body of literature.
