Table of Contents
Editor's Introduction - Romesh C. D.
Singh
I want to be the
Poet - Deon Abrams
I want to be the poet
Who speaks the words of
the ordinary people.
Not al all to write
about the beauty of white
Campville Times
– Cyril Browne
..Yes, I am a proud "Scheme Man" ..the memories and
boundless, exciting cultural experiences I enjoyed while growing up in "Campbellville
Scheme".
Diversity in Our Villages; Harmony in Our Culture -
Ken Corsbie
.. it occurred to me that the Georgetown street and
block where I lived my teenage years was one of very many villages
within “the city”, …“my village” which, like most Georgetown villages
was an almost complete microcosm of the Guyana theme “six races one
destiny
The North
Savannahs - Salvador de Caires
The interior of Guyana is a spectacular place.
Unfortunately very few Guyanese know it. By interior, we Guyanese mean
anything that is not between the mouths of the Essequibo and the
Courantyne Rivers and within twenty miles of the Coast
Religious
Holidays and Social Interaction in Upper Corentyne
- John “Slingshot”Drepaul
I grew up in the No 63-64 Village. This area is
populated predominantly by people of East Indian and African
descent….regardless of our religious and political views and social
standing, neighbourly love and support were never far….
You Have Left
Something - Francis Quamina Farrier
We all had a wonderful day visiting with the good
people at the Rupununi village of Sand Creek, and were ready to leave.
…Sand Creek is poised at the base of the majestic Kanuku Mountain range,
which stretches over a hundred miles, from Suriname in the east to
Brazil in the west. It is the home of the endangered giant harpy eagle….
Uncle Big Man
- Peter Halder
Uncle Big Man worked in the Machine Shop at the
Demerara Bauxite Company, Mackenzie, Upper Demerara River.Everyone knew
him as Uncle Big Man and very few knew that his real name was Archibald
Penassolein…The ghastly looking man wore the same shirt and pants almost
every day, washing them overnight.
The Dunce For
Jimmy Holder – Marc Matthews
we
lazy goodfornothing we he wrote
(as far as he could see) miraculously bred
from Cane, condemned to afterbirth of pain
felled as Abel or ravaged by selfloathing
insecurity, doubt, migrate to land of insane
Duh Is Um –
Henry Mutoo
The old Vauxhall car turned left out of Russell
street and onto Sussesx Street, and was soon bumping and rattling its
way towards Cooper street, where Albert was headed for a rendezvous with
his mother, sister and brother, whom he had left behind nearly thirty
years ago…
Bv Means Better
Fuh Walk In- Kwesi Oginga
The village, Beterverwagting, became popular
because it had the longest road for a visitor to walk in before they
could get to that part of the village where people lived. Many men took
that road into the village after their first date with their fiancée,
and you never heard from them again, until they were married and with
children and settled and living happily, somewhere in the village.
Saroo, Juror and
Judge - Kennard Ramphal
“They select you as juror. You have to go to the Law Court in Georgetown
on April 21.” Paulo looked at the calendar which hung on a nail on the
house post. “That’s not next Monday. It’s the other Monday. You have to
go at 9.00 o’clock in the morning. That mean you got to catch the 7.30
boat.”
Conversations
with an Old Woman-The Patamona Legend of Kaieteur - Rohan Sagar
….You see Kaieteur was once her sacred home, for
she was a Patamona, the People of the Mountains. It was here that they
would come to give obeisance to the Makonaima (Great Spirit) leaving
their homes from atop mountains, from afar as Matiák (Mahdia) or
Tuma-Tuma-ri (Tumatumari), walking for days or weeks as the case would
be, to interface with the Great Spirit.
String Bands Of Guyana - Ray Seales
Guyana is known as the
land of many rivers and cultures. In the sixties, we were also known as
the land of many string bands…..Bands mushroomed across our beautiful
Greenland in every Ward Village Town and City, spreading love and
harmony amongst a heavily divided nation. It was as if God had sent
music to us as a last resort before he rained down fire and brimstone
(yet to come)
Rain - Liesl
Zitman
Swaying in faint guava scented breezes
dark tree tops rustle like giant rain sticks
long black coconut palms fronds
wave and sway |