My Chinese blood - written for Owadaunii on Independence

Heritage and Identify is a funny thing
What makes us Guyanese is we are one and we are many-

First coming in 1853
What we call the chinee
A drop of blood in my ancestry
Coming to Guyana -
Signing 5 year contracts
First came vagabonds and adventurers
Then came those fleeing conflict in China
Coming to Guyana -
A chance for a different life
but finding hardship and strife
Doing their bit and setting up shop
After tending to sugar cane crop

Some left-
Seeking a homeland in the Caribbean
Those who stayed became Guyanese
Setting up their life as part of our tapestry
A drop of blood in my ancestry
Setting up churches, going into politics
Let me show you Arthur Chung
Our first president at Independence
Jonathan Foo - a cricketer too!
Robert Victor Evan Wong
His accomplish​ments as long
politician, civil engineer, businessman, rancher

In the absence of your company

In the absence of your company
My world fell silent-
When the rains came
And thundered on zinc rooftops
I cocooned and thought of you

In the absence of your company
My heart beat in singularity -
When the rains came
Pelting through windows and cracks
I let myself go with the wind

In the absence of your company
In my singularity
I learnt of comfort of silence
When the rains came
After the long season of dryness
I learnt to just listen to it pour

May

In the month of May
The rains came-
Bringing heavenly water upon the Earth
Drenching the packed and dried soil

Green shoots push through damp soil
Life returns to the Rupununi
Bringing promises of new life and change
Blossoming with excitement

Raindrop Memories

Gentle drops on rooftops
Misguide the sense of peace
Behind that cloud lies a power
Of life and death -of fluid water

Reminds me that a calm has a storm
Childhood memories of floods in July
Of red ants nests bundled tight - floating
Attractive to curious mind, but so dangerous

Reminds me-
Of a father whose soul was in the wild
And his heart in his children
Adventures in the Savannah - black mud and flooded plains
Reminds me -
Of a mother whose eyes saw clear
Saw the truth through the rain

Those thunderous drops on rooftops
Reminds me of bedtime stories
Of Vaquero Bom -Heario, Smellio, Seeio and maga horse too
Adventures beyond the night
Of Rupununi men and their might

Drumming on the roof reminds me-
Of rain beating in - feeling safe in their arms
While thunder roared​ and lightening struck
It became a thing to love - not to fear
Reminds me-