White Rum and Coconut Water is a scintillating and beautifully crafted collection of prose poetry that is simultaneously hilarious and serious and will keep you turning the pages in anticipation of more. Natalie Corthésy’s bold use of carefully nuanced language, striking imagery, irony and doublespeak , will lead you to contemplate sober issues that may even evoke sardonic humour amidst authentic portrayals of familiar Jamaican characters and settings. The unifying thread includes a wide range of typical Jamaican experiences related to family, rural life, painful and contradictory realities of poverty, inner city life, sexual exploitation and loss of innocence. Among the more powerful depictions are images of forceful and inventive women determined to assert agency and individual identities despite unfavorable social-economic contexts . Tension, nostalgia, community secrets , iconic cultural expressions and features are all juxtaposed in an exhilarating manner. The striking epigraphs that frame each of the sections into which the poems are grouped , are thought provoking and inviting. These poems will entice you to become “dream catchers “. - Professor Paulette Ramsay , Faculty of Humanities and Education, The University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica; and acclaimed author of contemporary Caribbean classics Aunt Jen (2002 Hodder) and Letters Home (2021 Hodder)