The independence anniversary in Guyana last Tuesday crept by without flourish or fanfare – quiet, but under a pall of disquiet, imposed by the still threatening coronavirus in collusion with a pervading political siege.
The Mouse’s Tale “Fury said to a mouse
that he met in the
house, ‘let us
both go to law
I will prosecute
you – Come I’ll
take no denial:
We must have
a trial; For
really this
morning I’ve
nothing to do.’
My Boy Lollipop
My boy lollipop
You make my heart go giddy up
You are as sweet as candy
You’re my sugar dandy
My boy lollipop
Never ever leave me
Because it would grieve me
My heart told me so
I love you, I love you, I love you so
But I don’t want you to know
I need you, I need you, I need you so
And I’ll never let you go
My boy lollipop
You make my heart go giddy up
You set my heart on fire
You are my one desire
My boy lollipop
Millie Small
Today, the legacy of this music rules popular culture around the world, but especially in every corner of the Caribbean region.
Sonnet 55
Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone, besmear’d with sluttish time.
Although Guyana has made significant advancements in drama and theatre, in some areas there has been a decline, and the country’s position in a Caribbean and international context is less than favourable.
Guyana is currently plagued by two pestilent emergencies demanding immediate and effective collective action which is imperative for the health of the nation.
Two of the country’s best production companies, The Theatre Company and Gems Theatre Productions provided one of the crucial components of the Republic Jubilee celebrations, the cultural factor, and in this case, theatre.
Exactly a week ago, Guyana reached the high point of its Golden Jubilee activities to mark its fiftieth year as a republic with the festival of Mashramani.
Changsha
Alone I stand in the autumn cold
On the tip of Orange Island,
The Xiang flowing northward;
I see a thousand hills crimsoned through
By their serried woods deep-dyed,
And a hundred barges vying
Over crystal blue waters.
Gitanjali 35 Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic
walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert
sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
To An Expatriate Friend
Colour meant nothing. Anyone
who wanted help, had humour or was kind
was brother to you; categories of skin
were foreign; you were colour blind.
Attunement of the senses Who has an eye for Nature’s beauteous forms
And lends an ear to trap her melody,
Will see the rose a sudden scarlet brush
When shyly bursting forth in dewy morn;
Observe the riotous splash of colour spilled
Across the palest blue of Heaven’s dome;
Will harken to the noise of kneeling grass
Which furious, fitful winds keep trampling o’er;
Will hear the symphony of weeping skies
Euphoniously played on tresses green;
Will smell the dampness of the rain-scoured earth
And deep inhale the fragrance of its flowers;
Will taste the freshness of the laughing brook
And smack the lips in sheer delight of being;
Will feel a oneness with Divinity,
Dynamic; indivisible; serene;
All these and more perceived and understood
Is proof .
The development of Guyanese literature may be studied in four periods: Pre-Colombian, before 1597; Colonial, from 1597 to the end of the nineteenth century; Modern, which includes pre-independence up to 1966; and the Post-Independence from 1966 to the present.