Twilight islands and environmental crises: re-writing a history of the Caribbean and Pacific regions through the islands existing in their shadows

In 1970, St Lucian born poet and playwright Derek Walcott published a moving ‘overture’ to his play, ‘Dream on Monkey Mountain,’ that he dubbed ‘What the Twilight Says’. In this lyrical essay, Walcott traverses through the landscapes of colonisation, transliterating the lure of imperialist languages formed from the dispossession of islands and their seas. Haunting and emotive, this short piece chronicles the dangers of living within twilight. According to Walcott, twilight represents the transitional potential of the time after the dark of empire and colonialism. Rather than see twilight as a hopeful condition, Walcott envisions it as a violent process of control that appropriates the language of selfdetermination for its own machinations.