MODESTE DOWNES has worn many caps, but of the many he has worn, perhaps it is as a poet he is most revered. However, his first calling was to the Catholic priesthood; but a priest Modeste Downes was not to be, and a cloud of mystery still surrounds the circumstances that led to his premature exit from the Seminary after two years of enrolment.
Modeste Downes calling as a priest was short-lived, but it seems he never lost the trait in him of wanting to help others that had first drawn him to the priesthood. He has served the nation in many facets. As an educator he taught at the Vieux Fort Boy’s School, the Grace Combined Primary School, and at the Vieux Fort Junior Secondary School.
As a journalist, a role he continues to play to this day, besides launching his own newspaper called Lucian, he has served as a freelance columnist for the nation’s major newspapers, as a reporter for Radio Saint Lucia, as a contributor to The Jako magazine, and as a reporter for The Voice and The Mirror.
As a political activist, he contested the Vieux Fort South Constituency seat as a PLP candidate in the 1982 general elections, and, although his was an unsuccessful bid, he has maintained a keen interest in the political life of Vieux Fort and Saint Lucia.
And as a trade union activist, he served as the administrative officer of the Saint Lucia Teacher’s Union for six years and as the General Secretary of the Vieux-Fort General and Dock Workers’ Union for eight years.
Modeste Downes has also worn the cap of a social and community development activist. In 1979, after completing a program in development studies at Holy Ghost College, Dublin, Ireland, where at graduation he was elected valedictorian, he worked with the Roman Catholic Church for several years, first as the island’s human development program officer, and then as projects officer responsible for developing and implementing the Church’s community outreach program.
In 1980, following the passage of Hurricane Allen, one of the worst hurricanes to hit Saint Lucia in living memory, he was among the first respondents and his office was the first to receive, coordinate and manage supplies and shelters for displaced persons in Vieux Fort.
In 1988 he was recognized by the National Youth Council for his outstanding contribution to the work of the Council and the Youth of Saint Lucia.
Notwithstanding the many caps that Modeste Downes has worn, perhaps it is as a wordsmith that he is most revered. His notoriety as a lyrical maestro began as a songwriter where his song writing was singlehandedly responsible for making “Driver” a perennial calypso king and Vieux Fort’s most renowned calypsonian. Besides serving as a songwriter, Modeste Downes was a cofounder of the Vieux Fort Southern Calypso Association and for a year joined the fray as a calypsonian.
Modeste Downes debut collection of poetry, PHASES, with its epic title poem tracing the history of Vieux Fort, was published in 2005. PHASES was long-awaited, but its publication instantly propelled Downes into the top echelon of Saint Lucian poets, garnering praise from both critics and the reading public, and joining the ranks of such Saint Lucian iconic poets as Kendel Hippolyte, McDonald Dixon and John Robert Lee.
As proof that all this praise wasn’t without merit, on the strength of PHASES, Modeste Downes was the first (2004) recipient of the George Odlum Award for Creative Artists, and PHASES was the winner of the 2005 M&C main prize for literature.
And if anyone had thought that PHASES was a flash in the pan, they would have been mistaken, for the poet has followed PHASES with an even more compelling collection—Theatre of the Mind— winner of the 2013 National Arts Award for poetry. Modeste Downes is now hard at work on his third poetry collection, A Lesson On Wings.
Modeste Downes’ multifaceted contributions to the nation haven’t gone unnoticed by his fellow Vieux Fortains. In June 2014 several Vieux Fort community organizations including Vyé-Fo Mouvman Ansanm, Jako Productions, the Vieux Fort Tourism Development Group, and the Seyans Folk Group hosted The Poet Speaks, an evening of poetry, music, and drama in celebration of the achievements of Modeste Downes as a poet, song writer, journalist and educator and in honor of his contributions to St. Lucia as a social, political, and labor union activist.
Some say art is a search for balance, and that art is more about the artist than the subject matter of the art. Well, indeed, Modeste Downes’ poetry is a mirror into the multifaceted life that he has led. Among other things, his poetry is a contemplation on religion, politics, art and culture, societal ills, and the Vieux Fort and St. Lucia landscape. And his wit and sharp tongue are put to good use in his poetry.
Consider a verse of the Haitian Limerick, where the poets wit and religious background comes to the fore. “The Pope must be deaf / The Pope must be blind / And he must be out of his mind / To abandon the flock / and the shepherd and stock / As they struggle for freedom or death.” Or the poem What if: “What if the Angel—just my mind / Found Mary to be disinclined / And Jesus Christ was never born / Which religion would you scorn?
