Who is F∗∗∗ing Helen? Representation of bodies and voices in Derek Walcott'somerosand Tony Harrison'sV

The article uses Tony Harrison's V. as a foil for a reading of Derek Walcott's Omeros, focusing on the politics of representation in the two poems, namely the poet‐narrators’ representation of the voice (Harrison) and bodies (Walcott) of the Other: a Leeds skinhead and the beautiful Helen of St. Lucia respectively. Both poems eventually distance themselves from their own representation; in Harrison this self‐critique includes an awareness of inevitable complicity, whereas the critique built into Omeros as an indictment of metaphor remains only apparent and does not involve the poem's (problematic) description of Helen and her body.