Helen Drayton is one of those people at whose energy and achievement ordinary mortals marvel. After a career as a banking executive, parenting nine children, membership on too many boards to mention, and a new life as an Independent Senator and business school lecturer, Drayton, 62, did not rest on her laurels. On top of all that, she is now a published author.
Her new book Passages will be launched November 9. It is published by Morton Publishing. In an interview last week at her Diego Martin home, Drayton said, "Creativity happens when the juices are flowing. I will not say that I will do painting or write a poem over this weekend. I could be waiting in somebody's office (when an idea comes). I am hyperactive, I must always be occupied."
How did she juggle the demands of her career, family and her involvement in charity work, and still find time to write the poems and paint the pieces in Passages? "People ask me that all the time," Drayton said seriously. "I can only say I have a strong ability to multitask. I have a strong ability to compartmentalise. "I believe that time is the only infinite resource. The way you were indoctrinated was that you manage time. In managing that time it's managed within boxes. We have been socialised to conform to living life within specific time frames. As an adult having all these children, having a full-time job, studying, wanting to pursue my hobby, self, the things that would enrich me, I would have had to use time in a different way.
"It is challenging but I never made time a problem."
The dynamo raised her two biological children and five of her late sister's kids, as well as cared for a niece and nephew of her husband. That was in addition to her career at RBTT Financial Holdings, which she left as director of group human resources in 2006. After leaving the bank she went on to be the CEO of the T&T branch of the United Way, a charitable organisation. The United Way is an umbrella organisation for volunteer coordination; it funds youth and child development and poverty alleviation work. Though she is no longer officially part of the United Way, Drayton will give the proceeds of the sale of Passages to the charity. The paintings in the book–mostly still life and abstracts–represent years of work. The poems are more recent, she said, and she owes a debt of gratitude to the many writers, poets and teachers who helped her refine her voice in the work. The poems include a long meditation on Trinidad's landscape and culture, Hyarima Lives; some shorter, spare poems tackle themes of nature, violence, spirituality, family and poverty, among others.
"They are expressions on life generally. Hence the name of the book, Passages. I'm motivated by everything around me. I'm motivated by interesting people, by social situations–hence my involvement in charity. I also sit on the board of Servol," she added. Drayton is far from done. She's "75 per cent" finished with writing a novel, she said, and plans to do another exhibition of her paintings, following a hiatus of over a decade since her last showing.
"I love poetry. And I love art. Basically they both allow expressions in a very creative way." At the end of the interview she was about to don a jacket over her blouse and head to the Senate. This woman's work is never done.
Passages, Selected Poems by Helen Drayton, is published by Morton Publishing. It will be on sale at all bookstores at $150. Proceeds from the sale of the book will go to the United Way.
